By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Oct 16: Claiming that Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) was implemented in the state in 2009-10 in a “thoughtless” manner, the VPP on Wednesday demanded that the then education minister tender a public apology for the mess surrounding the flagship programme.
Stating that the ongoing agitation by the SSA teachers reflects the deep rot in the education system, VPP spokesperson Batskhem Myrboh said, “The frequent agitations should rather make the people and the electorate introspect about the kind of political leadership and bureaucracy that we have had so far.”
He said the faulty implementation of SSA should make everyone raise pertinent questions and fix responsibility and accountability.
Questioning who the education minister and the officers in the Education Department were during 2009-10, he said, “The minister responsible for this mess should issue a public apology and the electorate should be responsible enough to make such an incompetent politician retire forever as he or she has no moral right to continue after putting the state in great jeopardy.”
“Action should be taken against the officers responsible by withholding annual increments/promotion for their incompetence and for causing huge losses to the state,” Myrboh said.
According to him, the error committed by them created a difficult situation for the state, teachers, students and the public in general even decades after their thoughtless decision-making.
“However, the present problem requires both the government and the teachers to arrive at a win-win situation,” he said, adding that this should teach the people of the state a lesson to not elect those who play politics to win elections.
SSA is a flagship programme of the central government to achieve universalisation of elementary education in a time-bound manner. It was launched in 2001 after modifying existing schemes such as District Primary Education Programme.
The programme got legal and constitutional backing after 86th amendment, which made free and compulsory education to the children of 6-14 years age group a fundamental right. SSA is being implemented in partnership with state governments.