Editor,

I would like to draw the attention of the government and the general public to an important issue concerning teacher recruitment in Arunachal Pradesh.

Recently, I have noticed that many guest teachers working as PGTs and TGTs in secondary and higher secondary schools are demanding automatic regularisation. Government employment should be earned through a transparent and competitive recruitment process. We all know that the selection of guest teachers is mainly done through walk-in interviews, which may sometimes be influenced by bias, favouritism, or personal connections.

The condition of primary education in Arunachal itself serves as a warning. For years, the primary education sector has suffered from weak and inconsistent recruitment practices. Today, many students reach higher classes without acquiring basic reading, writing, and arithmetic skills. This decline in learning outcomes has eroded public confidence in government schools, forcing many parents, even in rural areas, to prefer private institutions despite financial hardship. We must not repeat the same mistake at the secondary and higher secondary levels. A robust, transparent, and merit-based recruitment process is essential to ensure quality education for future generations.

One common argument in favour of regularisation is that guest teachers do not get enough time to prepare for competitive examinations because they are busy teaching. However, this argument overlooks the reality that thousands of BEd-qualified aspirants across Arunachal are also teaching in universities, colleges, central schools, private schools, coaching institutes, and as private tutors while preparing for the same examinations. They, too, work tirelessly every day, yet no one is asking for automatic regularisation.

Even in central schools, a person may work as a contractual teacher for many years, but that alone does not make them eligible for regularisation. They must qualify through the prescribed recruitment process. The same principle should apply in Arunachal. Guest teachers already have classroom experience, which gives them an advantage over fresh candidates. Therefore, they should compete on merit, rather than seek automatic regularisation. If they cannot clear the recruitment examination for the very level at which they are teaching, they should reflect on their professional and ethical responsibility, instead of demanding regularisation.

A concerned educator