Sikkim Democratic Front president Pawan Chamling has lambasted the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha government’s education policy, in particular the one pertaining to the regularisation of services of ad hoc teachers, as “cruel and foolish”.

The former chief minister in a release issued on Sunday said the mandatory requirement of eight-year service as ad hoc teachers before being considered for the regularisation of the jobs was unjust to both schools and deserving teachers.

“The present policy formulated by the SKM government has made it mandatory for all new teachers to waste eight precious years. Shouldn’t the HRDD conduct at least yearly interviews for regular teachers?” he asked.

The ad hoc teachers’ regularisation policy announced in November last year states that only those who have completed eight years of continuous service and fulfill the minimum eligibility criteria prescribed in the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) Act would be considered for permanent appointment. It also puts a freeze on the creation of new posts.

“What a cruel and foolish policy! What an injustice to schools and meritorious teacher candidates!” exclaimed Chamling while expressing sadness at the alleged humiliation meted out to the teachers whose ad hoc jobs were being discontinued in the name of a new policy.

The SDF chief said temporary teachers had never lost their jobs during his 25-year-long rule as some are doing today.

“A total of over 9000 regular teachers were appointed during our rule (from 1994 to 2019). We annually appointed teachers on an ad hoc basis to meet the instant requirements of the department, and later, teachers who completed three years of service on an ad hoc basis were regularised,” he said, adding that the jobs of 4000 ad hoc teachers had been regularised.

The former chief minister has said the government has the power to appoint ad hoc and regular teachers by duly following the norms, but chief minister P. S. Tamang (Golay)-headed SKM government was incapable of doing these things. “All they can do is harass teachers and students and pit one group of teachers and students against the other,” he alleged.

Golay had only last week said that his government would regularise the jobs of over 500 ad hoc teachers who had completed eight continuous years of service and fulfill other criteria by March.

Chamling also listed a number of schemes initiated by his government, including the Chief Minister’s Meritorious Scholarship Scheme under which students from government schools could study in the country’s renowned schools, the Chief Minister’s Free Scholarship Scheme under which students could study for free in the world’s top 20 universities, among others.

“But the SKM government lacks the vision even to continue these schemes, let alone start new such schemes,” he added.