To,
The Hon’ble
Chief Minister
Arunachal
Pradesh
Itanagar
PIN-791111
Subject:
Request for intervention to end drop-out of Chakma students after elementary
schools
Sir,
I am writing to
draw your kind attention towards the deplorable state of secondary education in
Chakma-inhabited areas under Miao Sub-Division in Changlang district. Many
Chakma students had to involuntarily drop out due to lack of secondary schools
over the last few years.
At least 88 Chakma
students, including 29 girls, from 17 villages under Miao and Kharsang Circles
had to drop out last year. Out of the 88 students, 10 had completed Class 8th
in 2010-11 academic session. These students lost a valuable year, while the 10
students suffered two academic lost in a row.
All these
students completed their elementary schooling from four Govt. middle schools
located in their villages. Two schools namely Govt. higher secondary schools at
Miao and Kharshang which are feeder to these middle schools. However, the
school authorities did not allow admission to these Chakma students due to
overcrowding, lack of teachers and infrastructure etc. The students also
approached the secondary schools under Diyun circle, where they were again
refused admission on the grounds of overcrowding, outside jurisdiction etc.
Acting on
various representations from the 17 affected villages, the Director of
Secondary Education in a letter (Memo No.EDA.107/99-2000) dated 21 October 2011
requested the Deputy Commissioner, Changlang and Deputy Director of School
Education, Changlang to direct/instruct the Principals of Govt HSS Kharsang,
Miao, Innao and Headmaster of Diyun to admit the students and forward the name
of admitted students to the CBSE for registration to avoid loss of one valuable
academic year of the students. On 3 November 2011, the Deputy Director of
School Education, Changlang instructed all the school authorities of
Miao/Kharsang/Diyun circles to admit the Chakma students on proportionate
sharing basis. But, none of the schools complied with the instruction and the students
had to involuntarily drop out of schooling.
A lot of the
education problems of the Chakma students could have been resolved had some of
the existing middle schools been upgraded to secondary level. For example, the
Govt Middle School at Ratnapur village under Kharsang Circle is yet to be
upgraded to secondary level despite recommendations by the three-member Govt.
Inspection Team in July 2011. The Inspection Team pointed out that “Golakpur,
Milanpur, Ratnapur, Bijoypur and Dharmapur –I, II, III villages will be
benefitted if Ratnapur ME School is allowed to run Class-IX.”
The situation
is equally abysmal in Chakma areas under Diyun Circle. There are only three
secondary schools which are awfully short for a large number of students, both
Chakmas and others. As a result, overcrowding remains a perennial problem in
these schools in particular Diyun secondary school.
The issue of
admission will be increasingly felt in the current academic session as more
students have passed their Class 8th examinations. There are already about 150
Chakma students who are awaiting admission to Class IX in the current academic
session. But it is feared that they would not get admission as the situation
remained the same.
Education is
the foundation for the development and progress of any society. The absence of
secondary schools and denial of admission in the existing schools results in
uncertain future of the students including rise in school dropout. School
dropout children are more likely in the risk of being exploited as child
labours, domestic servants, and even in anti-social activities.
Since you assumed
office, your response to improve and develop the education sector in the state has
been positive.
I, therefore,
request your personal intervention to ensure
admission of all the Chakma students from the ensuing session and upgrade the
existing middle schools to end the recurring admission crisis.
Yours sincerely,
Tejang Chakma
On behalf of the Chakma
students
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