SHILLONG, SEPT 10: The Voice of the People Party (VPP) on Thursday demanded the immediate removal of Vijay Kumar Mantri as Commissioner and Secretary of the Education Department, citing serious concerns over the handling of education in the state.

In a statement, VPP president Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit said policies implemented under Mantri’s commissionership, including those related to the structured pay framework, welfare of teachers in deficit grant-in-aid institutions, service conditions and school rationalisation, have created uncertainty among teachers and raised questions about accessibility and quality of education.

“The manner in which these policies have been conceived and implemented can reasonably be perceived as anti-people and insensitive to the interests of local educators and communities,” the party said.

The VPP said Meghalaya’s education system cannot be reduced to bureaucratic rationalisation and numerical efficiency while disregarding its unique social, geographical and local realities.

The party called for leadership that listens to teachers, respects local realities and places the interests of students and people of Meghalaya above bureaucratic convenience.