The Chakotia Bhunjia tribal youths of Maoist-affected Sunabeda plateau in Nuapada district have expressed discontent for not getting opportunity to submit application for the post of language teacher in Chakotia Bhunjia language.
There are 614 Chakotia Bhunjia tribal households in two Panchayats of the plateau. Chakotia Bhunjias are one of the Primitive Tribal Groups (PTGs) of Odisha, who speak their own language.
The District Project Coordinator (DPC) of Sarva Shiksa Aviyan (SSA) had given advertisement for appointment of language teachers for 13 schools of the plateau, the last date of which was June 2 last.
“When we learnt about the advertisement, the last date of application was already over,” the youths said, adding, “As we are living in remote areas, we could not get information on advertisement and hence, we should be given a chance to serve our own community.”
The DPC informed that the matter has been discussed with the district Collector. “The Collector has said that the matter would be taken up with OPEPA, Bhubaneswar,” said the DPC.
As most of the teachers of the plains who have been posted in various schools of the plateau are regular absentees, providing opportunity to the youths of Sunabeda as language teachers in their own areas would be a good step for regularising the functioning of schools, said youths of the tribal community, adding, “No one from our community could apply for the post although there are about 15 deserving candidates among us.”