Sri Vijaya Puram, Aug 7: Shri Bishnu Pada Ray, Hon’ble Member of Parliament, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, has taken up the matter with the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and Hon’ble Home Minister Shri Amit Shah, highlighting severe administrative lapses in the education sector under the Lt. Governor Admiral (Retd.) D.K. Joshi’s leadership.
In a strongly worded appeal, the MP pointed out that more than 50% of Government Secondary and Senior Secondary Schools in the Islands are functioning without a Principal, Vice Principal, or Headmaster, due to the non-filling of vacant posts that have remained unaddressed for several years. “Out of nearly 90 secondary and senior secondary schools, 46 are running headless. In some zones, a single Vice Principal is managing up to 3–4 schools. Even eligible candidates are being overlooked due to sheer administrative apathy,” said Shri Bishnu Pada Ray.
The main points highlighted by him are that 39 out of 41 Secondary Schools (Class X) do not have a Headmaster or Vice Principal, No full-time Assistant Education Officers are posted in any education zone, Deputy Education Officer posts are being handled as additional charges, Zone-wise data confirms widespread leadership vacuum in schools across South Andaman, Wimberlygunj, Little Andaman, Middle Andaman, Mayabunder, Diglipur, Car Nicobar, Nancowry, and Campbell Bay.
With regard to performance grading index (PGI) 2.0 crisis is concerned, he pointed that the recently published PGI 2.0 Report (2023–24) by the Ministry of Education ranked the A&N Islands among the bottom three UTs, citing (a) Lack of Principals and Headmasters as major gaps (b) Only 21–30% performance recorded, categorizing A&N as “Aakaankshi–1”.
This poor showing is directly linked to the absence of school leadership, further affecting education quality, especially in tribal and remote areas.
The MP also revealed that reportedly that around 900 sanctioned posts across the Education Department were abolished in past years due to the Administration’s failure to fill them within the prescribed period, in violation of service rules. These include posts ranging from Principals to Clerks, Drivers, PCC, IT staff, Librarian, etc. Although the posts were revived later due to the efforts of then Director of Education with assistance of few local officials having thorough knowledge about the education field, most key positions remain vacant even today.
Therefore, Shri Bishnu Pada Ray, Hon’ble MP has called for (i) Immediate inquiry into the administrative failure under the Lt. Governor and Education Department (ii) Urgent recruitment to fill all vacant posts of Principals, Vice Principals, Headmasters, and other (iii) Accountability and disciplinary action against officers responsible for this negligence.
This is not just a governance issue, but an educational crisis affecting the future of thousands of children in a remote and strategic Union Territory. Urgent intervention is the need of the hour,” the MP stated. He urged the Prime Minister and Home Minister to take immediate corrective action to restore credibility and efficiency in the education system of the Islands.