Thiruvananthapuram, 05 June (H.S.):

CPM leader and former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has criticised the state government's decision to discontinue the services of 308 tribal mentor teachers, alleging that the move would adversely affect the education of tribal students and deprive hundreds of educated tribal youth of employment.

In a Facebook post on Friday, Vijayan described the decision as a grave injustice and said the mentor teacher scheme was introduced by the previous LDF government to address high dropout rates among tribal students and provide them with academic support. He said the teachers were working under the Gothrabandhu scheme in Wayanad, Palakkad and Malappuram districts, teaching students from Classes 1 to 4 on a monthly remuneration of ₹21,900.

According to Vijayan, qualified tribal youth possessing TTC and BEd qualifications had been appointed as mentor teachers. However, the government had allegedly decided not to renew their appointments for the current academic year. He claimed that orders to this effect were issued by Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP) officers based on directions from the Scheduled Tribes Development Department.

The former chief minister said the decision had resulted in the loss of jobs for 241 teachers in Wayanad, 50 in Palakkad and 17 in Malappuram. Many of them, he noted, had served in the programme for nearly nine years.

Vijayan said the mentor teacher initiative, launched by the LDF government in 2016, was one of the most progressive measures aimed at improving tribal education. He claimed Kerala was the first state in the country to implement a dedicated support system for tribal students through teachers drawn from tribal communities.

The programme, he said, helped improve learning outcomes by enabling teachers to communicate with students in their native languages and better understand their social and cultural backgrounds. At the same time, it created employment opportunities for educated tribal youth and contributed to the economic upliftment of tribal families.

He pointed out that many of the affected teachers belonged to marginalised tribal communities such as the Adiya, Paniya, Kattunaikka and Oorali groups. Vijayan also said the teachers remained actively involved in school-related activities, including student enrolment drives, even during vacation periods.

Stating that the dismissed teachers had launched protests against the decision, Vijayan urged the government to reconsider its stand and reinstate them in the interest of tribal education and employment.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Arun Lakshman