High-level committee review, postings of NPSC-recruited teachers in limbo
Nagaland’s public education system is reeling under gross mismanagement, with government schools across the state staffed by unqualified personnel and critical subjects left untaught — a direct result of the state government’s prolonged failure to resolve teacher deployment issues despite months of warnings.
From a retired teacher posted at Government Primary School (GPS) Khongka, to villages in rural Mokokchung without mathematics and science teachers, to a shocking case in Peren district where, according to Nagaland News Network, a carpenter is teaching science and a chowkidar is handling English at Government High School, Nsong – the crisis is unprecedented. Nsong has no headmaster, and the situation became so intolerable that the village shut down the school on August 12, demanding immediate appointment of qualified teachers.
On February 6 and 10, 2025, the Department of School Education (DoSE) redeployed nearly 1,650 teachers — including mathematics, science, Hindi, and primary-level educators — in a long-awaited rationalization process to address rural shortages. But the move triggered strong backlash from student bodies and school heads, who accused the department of arbitrary transfers and ignoring ground realities. The orders were suspended on February 17 “in the interest of public service,” with a promise to review.
On April 8, 2025, following a cabinet decision, the government issued a formal notification (No.DSE/Rationalization/1-61/2023) constituting a high-level committee to review the February 10 rationalization orders.
According to the documents accessed by Mokokchung Times, the committee is chaired by the Commissioner & Secretary for School Education and comprising senior officials including the Principal Director, Additional Secretary, and Deputy Mission Director of Samagra Shiksha as Member Secretary, the committee was directed to submit its report within one month.
However, four months later, no report has been made public, and no visible progress has been announced.
Meanwhile, sources said that over half the teachers affected by the February orders had already joined their new postings before suspension, while an estimated 200–300 others were relieved from joining but never returned to their original schools. “They were supposed to go back to their previous postings, but they didn’t,” a source said. “This has created a massive imbalance across the system.”
Adding to the crisis, a reliable source told MT that newly recruited science and mathematics graduate teachers have been left in limbo. Although the NPSC declared results over three months ago, sources alleged that the government “still cannot decide on the posting” of those teachers – a decision reportedly being kept “only at the government level” instead of through standard departmental procedure.
Two factors now dominate the crisis: the committee’s inaction on rationalization since April, and the government’s indecision on teacher postings since the NPSC results. Together, they have left many schools overstaffed in some areas and severely short in others — a vacuum now being filled by non-teaching staff.
With no clear resolution in sight, the academic future of thousands of students hangs in the balance.
