Inspector of Schools Cachar says minister Parimal Suklabaidya "pressurised" her to disburse salary of a teacher; "I was humiliated," she adds

They don’t have teachers in Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Silchar for any subject apart from Advance Hindi. Some of the teachers joined from other districts and took transfer within a few months and that is one of the primary reasons why there is a scarcity of teachers in the school. A teacher from Bramhaputra Valley had joined Government Girls School in Silchar to teach English but moved away to some other district within nine months. There are hundreds of such cases, claims the district education department. In Government Girls, there are 298 Students in the Arts stream and one teacher qualified to teach Advance Hindi – one of the least popular subjects among the students.

When the Inspector of Schools Sabina Yara Yasmin was asked about the scarcity of teachers and irregular transfers, she said, “There is very little that we can do. The teachers have immense political influence and they arm-twist the system with the help of politicians. There are at least ten vacancies in my office itself but people join and then leave within six months showing me a thenga.”

The Inspector of Schools, added, “I have not written a single recommendation for transfer during my tenure, but yet so many transfers took place. All of them have involvement of politicians with key portfolios.”

Not only scarcity, many teachers including the Principal were absconding from duties without any notice or handing over the respective charges. Inspector of Schools Sabina Yara Yasmin said that the inefficiencies are impacting the education system of the district. “We had identified some teachers who were not doing their duties properly. I being the employer, after consulting my senior officer, issued show cause to all of them. Many teachers reached out to me with the response and apologised for their lack of seriousness. There was one teacher of DNNK Girls School who did not bother to respond to the show cause,” informed the Inspector of Schools.

The officer further explained, “When the said teacher of DNNK did not reply, I consulted with the department and being the employer – exercising my rights, I asked the department to stop disbursing her salaries. A few days after that, a Grade IV staff from DC’s Office, who claimed to be a close aide of the honourable minister, Parimal Suklabaidya came to me and said, the minister has ordered me to disburse the said teacher’s salary as she is the wife of someone in minister’s team.”

The Inspector of Schools went on to add, “Minister Parimal Suklabaidya pressurised me, humiliated me.” She explains, “When the Grade IV staff came and asked me to disburse the salary, I asked him to get it in writing from the minister. The Grade IV staff warned me that the teacher is some Bhushan’s wife and there is no way I cannot disburse the salaries. The fact that I have asked the staff to get it in writing irked the minister. Minister Parimal Suklabaidya rang me up and started yelling at me. He asked me, who am I to ask him for a written statement and how dare I ask for it. I replied I have all the right to do so.”

Eventually, the salary of the teacher employed at DNNK Girls HS School was disbursed. “This is the life of Inspector of Schools. We get humiliated in front of subordinates, succumb to political pressure and then get asked why don’t we have adequate teachers in a school and how can so many teachers get transferred so soon after joining. I know, I might get transferred after saying all this, but if the little children are demonstrating for their right to education, the general public needs to know the real story,” asserted Inspector of Schools, Cachar Sabina Yara Yasmin.

Multiple calls to the minister remained unanswered. Once, someone from his Office answered the call. Barak Bulletin correspondent was asked to leave a message. It was communicated to him that the call was regarding an important story related to the Inspector of School and education system. The member of his team, who answered minister’s phone, said they will call back, but he didn’t. Hence, the story is published without the minister’s comment.

We will update readers as soon as we hear from them.