Hon'ble sir,

When the Teachers Registry Portal (TRP) was launched, teachers across Arunachal Pradesh welcomed it with hope. You assured the state that transfers and postings would henceforth be objective, tenure-based and free from outside pressure; that teachers serving in hard-belt postings would no longer remain there indefinitely but would rotate fairly through the middle and soft belts; and that favouritism and nepotism would give way to a transparent digital process strengthened by artificial intelligence.

Few reforms have carried such promise for the state's teachers. That promise has not been kept. On 6 October, 2026, the department issued two modified transfer & posting orders, Nos EDU/TRP/ADM/ADM-20262027-0008 and 0009, cancelling the transfers of over 200 PRTs and TGTs ordered through the TRP on 30 June, 2026. The grounds for cancellation are revealing: tenure not completed, eligibility for joint posting, children's education, census duty, being on the verge of retirement, and ISSE and ECCE status. The list even includes teachers who had already retired, and one who had died. Each of these is a basic rule the portal should have checked automatically. Medical-ground cases are still pending, so the true number of wrongly transferred teachers is higher still.

Sir, you were misled. The portal was presented to you as foolproof and AI-driven. In reality, a system of this scale and sensitivity was entrusted to persons without the qualifications it required. As the department's own orders show, the nodal officer appointed for the TRP is a school headmaster - an educationist, not a technology professional. The software was developed by a multi-tasking staffer engaged on a part-time basis, who holds no formal qualification in information technology and, to our knowledge, has no record of building any software system now in use in a government department or private organisation.

This is no reflection on their dedication; it is a question about the decision to give them this responsibility. The portal was not developed or reviewed by the NIC, the state IT Department, or any qualified agency. There was no documented requirement study, no pilot in a district, no parallel run against the manual process, and no security or quality audit. It was applied straight away to the careers of thousands of teachers, who became, in effect, the testing ground.

There are also serious and widespread reports that names were manually removed from the initial lists - including persons connected to those operating the portal, and teachers attached to headquarters. If true, the system meant to end discretion was used to exercise it in secret. These reports deserve a proper inquiry, not dismissal.

If the department truly wanted fair, tenure-based transfers, it should have begun at its own doorstep. Headmasters, senior teachers and subject teachers are attached to the directorates and to the ISSE (Samagra Shiksha) office - some of them for 10 to 12 years. They are teachers by appointment and salary, and their place is in the classroom. Yet while teachers in remote schools were uprooted, often wrongly, these office attachments were left untouched, and some names in the initial lists were reportedly removed. A system that moves the teacher in a far-flung primary school but spares the teacher in a headquarters office is not objective. It is favouritism by another name.

Behind every cancelled order is a family. I know a teacher who pledged his paddy field to a moneylender to fund repeated journeys to Itanagar, and months of hotel stays, to correct a transfer the department has now admitted was wrong. He is not alone. Teachers from remote districts spent their savings, borrowed money and left their schools to undo the department's own error, while their students lost teaching days. No reform should come at such a price, borne by those who did nothing wrong.

What must be done

Hold the TRP in abeyance for transfers and postings until a tested, audited and genuinely reliable system is in place. In the meantime, transfer matters can be handled through the e-Office file system, which also leaves a full digital trail and makes every decision answerable to a signature.

Order an independent inquiry by the highest competent agency, including a digital forensic audit of the TRP database and its logs. The first step should be to secure and freeze all data, logs and backups, so that nothing can be altered. Where manual interference is established, those responsible must be held to account. A fiasco of this scale should never be repeated in the history of the department.

Engage competent professionals with a proven record in government software - through NIC, the state IT Department or an empanelled agency - for all future digital systems. Such work cannot be entrusted to multi-tasking staff or school headmasters without the training or experience it requires.

Restore the distinct pathways of each directorate. The Directorates of Elementary Education, Secondary Education, and Higher & Technical Education, and the SCERT each have their own budget heads, establishments and delegated powers from the state government. The TRP's attempt to concentrate the transfers and postings of more than one directorate in a single office runs against the spirit of their bifurcation and weakens accountability. Each body should manage its own transfers through its own clear and answerable process.

Return teachers to classrooms. All headmasters and teachers attached to the directorates, the ISSE office and other offices should be identified, with the length of each attachment, and that list made public. Those attached beyond a reasonable period should be sent back to schools, beginning with the longest-serving. Any genuine office requirement should be met by ministerial staff or through a transparent, time-bound deputation.

Provide relief to affected teachers. Documented travel and stay expenses incurred to correct the department's error should be reimbursed, and representations should be accepted online or through district offices, so that no teacher is forced to travel to the capital to seek justice.

Sir, the people of Arunachal Pradesh know you as a leader of intellect and integrity. That reputation should not suffer for the failings of others. Acting firmly now - by pausing the system, ordering an inquiry and making things right for affected teachers - would turn a setback into a lesson the whole department can learn from.

With respect and hope,

Lopak Kumi,

Naharlagun