The A·chik Youth Welfare Organisation (AYWO) has written to the Education Minister to call for the cancellation of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed recently between the state government and Mothers’ Union Tura.
The agreement was revealed during an education conclave in Tura by the Chief Minister. Under the deal, 20 lower primary schools in West Garo Hills would be taken on by the Mothers’ Union to administer.
The AYWO today said that it was writing to the minister “with the collective voice of concerned educators, school management committees and the broader community of West Garo Hills”.
The agreement, the pressure group wrote, has sparked widespread consternation among stakeholders, including teachers, staff, educational communities and residents of the affected area. It added that certain provisions of the agreement are not only “antithetical” to the principles of equitable governance, financial transparency and professional dignity but also pose an existential threat to the stability and integrity of the educational ecosystem.
The minister was urged to review the agreement and rescind “its most deleterious clauses”. Specifically, the AYWO said that too much authority is delegated under the understanding to the Mothers’ Union, which has also been given too much power over staff salaries, etc.
