Petition No. 3: Only 1 teacher is teaching over 50 students at Government Primary School at Puankhai village in Lunglei District, Mizoram

Petition No. 3: Only 1 (One) Teacher is teaching over 50 students at Government Primary School at Puankhai village in Lunglei District, Mizoram. In a petition to the officials of the Directorate of Education, Government of Mizoram, Paritosh Chakma has called for urgent appointment of more teachers in this school.  

The petition stated that there was a serious violation of the fundamental right to elementary education. (See Petition)

Petition No. 2: One teacher teaching 76 students at Government Primary School at Bandiasora in Lunglei District of Mizoram: Call for appointment of more teachers

One teacher teaching 76 students from Class I to IV at Government Primary School at Bandiasora in Lunglei District of Mizoram: Paritosh Chakma writes to Mizoram Education Department for appointment of more teachers 

Today (4 November 2020), I have submitted a petition to the Mizoram Education Department seeking appointment of more teachers at Government primary school at Bandiasora village under Hmundo village council in Lunglei District of Mizoram.

Currently, only one teacher is teaching 76 students of Class I to IV at this school and teaches all subjects from English to maths to social sciences.  

"Clearly, non appointment of adequate number of teachers is gross violation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act). As per the norms and standards of the RTE Act, there must be at least three teachers for number of children between 60-90 in the school" - stated Mr Paritosh Chakma. 

It is pertinent to stress here that the right to free and compulsory elementary education is a Fundamental Right under Article 21A of the Constitution of India which states, “21A. The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years in such manner as the State may, by law, determine.”

"As fundamental rights cannot be taken away under any circumstances and since education is a top priority of the state government, I urge the Mizoram Education Department to immediately appoint adequate number of teachers at Govt PS at Bandiasora village under Hmundo village council in Lunglei District as per the norms and standards of the RTE Act", Mr Paritosh Chakma demanded in his petition to the Mizoram Education Department. (See the petition)

One teacher teaching 80 students of Class I to IV in this school

Angered by the consistent denial of quality education at village school, this morning (3.11.2020) I wrote a petition to (1). Mrs. Esther Lal Ruatkimi, Commissioner & Secretary and (2). Mr. James Lalrinchhana, Director, Directorate of School Education, Government of Mizoram, asking them to appoint adequate number of teachers at Government Primary School at Samuksury Chakma village in Lunglei District of Mizoram. This government school is running with only one teacher for several years. The lone teacher teaches 80 students from Class I to IV. He has to teach all subjects, from maths to English to social sciences! This is not humanly possible.

When this lone teacher takes a particular class, the students of the other three classes have to simply sit idle or they make noise.

"How can a single teacher teach 80 students of four different classes? This is a total violation of the fundamental right to free and compulsory education upto elementary level guaranteed by the Constitution of India and the Right to Education Act. I therefore urge the Mizoram Education Department to immediately appoint adequate number of teachers at Govt PS at Samuksury as per SSA norms and the RTE Act" - I wrote to the Education Officials.

See the letter below.

National Commission for Women (NCW) takes note of my tweet, orders inquiry

NCW is disturbed to read the report of negligence and denial of service by the hospital officials to the pregnant woman. We've written to Pu Lalnunmawia Chuaungo, Chief Secretary @CMOMizoram for immediate inquiry.@paritosh_chakma @ZoramthangaCM @SosoShaiza @sharmarekha https://t.co/xOcH2KS07s

— NCW (@NCWIndia) May 6, 2020

THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS, 6 MAY 2020, https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2020/may/06/ncw-orders-probe-into-denial-of-child-delivery-at-mizoram-hospital-without-voter-id-2139923.html

GUWAHATI: The National Commission for Women (NCW) has issued a notice to the Mizoram government over an order purportedly issued by the state’s health department to a hospital on March 1 that made “voter ID mandatory for every woman delivering a child at the Tlabung Civil Hospital”.

“NCW is disturbed to read the report of negligence and denial of service by the hospital officials to the pregnant woman. We’ve written to Pu Lalnunmawia Chuaungo, Chief Secretary, for an immediate inquiry,” the Commission tweeted.

Earlier, Paritosh Chakma, who is the president of Mizoram Chakma Alliance Against Discrimination, had tweeted tagging the NCW. He had written that the act of the Mizoram government was “bone-chilling, outright unethical, illegal, flagrant violation of the right to health.” He had demanded the withdrawal of the order.

On Wednesday, he said, “The notification issued by the State of Mizoram to make voter-ID mandatory for accessing treatment amounts to Mizoram government allowing those not having voter IDs to be left untreated even if they have COVID-19 and therefore, those without voter IDs shall be at liberty to spread the coronavirus in case of infections. This violates each and every guideline issued by the Government of India to combat COVID-19.”

He said thousands of Chakmas, deleted from the voter list during 1995, were never enrolled and their existence in the electoral rolls prior to 1995 has no bearing. He said as the result of an unofficial ceiling imposed on the Chakmas during electoral revisions, people belonging to the community cannot get enrolled in the voter list every year. Obviously, there are hundreds of Chakmas who were not issued Voter IDs and do not have one. The notification by the health department is part of the continuing discrimination against the minority Chakmas, Paritosh alleged.

He lamented that despite the Chakmas being Indian citizens with Mizoram’s entire western belt having been included under the Lushai Hills in 1898 by the British and the Chakmas accorded Chakma Autonomous District Council under the Sixth Schedule of Constitution since 1972, they continued to face “serious discrimination” in Mizoram.

Open letter to Mizoram CM Zoramthanga on literacy rate

My "Open letter" to Shri Zoramthanga, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Mizoram on where the focus of his government to achieve 100% literacy should lie.

I suggested him to invite the Chakma NGOs for discussion on improving literacy rate and implement those suggestions.

Open Letter to Mizoram Chief Minister, Mr Zoramthanga

Background of my open letter:

The Mizoram Post, 18.02.2020

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar interacts with Chakma community in Delhi