Lakshadweep admin orders education dept officials in Kochi to shift to islands

 The Lakshadweep administration on Friday ordered the officials of the education department in Kochi to shift to the islands. The Directorate of Education of Lakshadweep administration also asked its education officer in Kochi to shift all the office materials like electronic equipment, furniture and files dealt by five of its staff from Kochi to the islands. The Lakshadweep administration has an office in Kochi from which several departments operate.

Lakshadweep MP Mohammed Faizal PP criticised the decision saying that it will adversely impact around 4,000 students from the islands who are studying at various educational institutions in Kerala and also said that the order will be challenged in the court. The order asked the officials which include accountant, a stenographer, two clerical staff and a MSE to shift ‘consequent upon the decision to rationalise the staff of the Education Office, Kochi.’ The education officer in Kochi has been asked to relieve the officials with direction to report before director of education Rakesh Singhal Danics in seven days.

“With the new decision, the students studying in Thiruvananthapuram or other parts of India now need to travel to Lakshadweep to solve their problems. Otherwise, they would only need to travel to Kochi to meet their education and resolve their issues and go back,” Mohammed Faizal PP was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. Faizal said that the administration’s education office has been functioning from Kochi since the last three years and was set up for easy access for the needs of students studying in the mainland.

Faizal also termed the move as an ‘unwanted action’. He also alleged that the island administrator Praful Khoda Patel took the decision unilaterally without any discussion with representatives of the people in the islands or even the standing committee on education of the Lakshadweep district panchayat.

The island continues to witness protests by residents from the past month against Praful Khoda Patel’s reforms. The residents claim that measures are being implemented without taking the people of the islands into consideration. The Save Lakshadweep Forum (SLF) said that the protests will continue until the administration withdraws the measures.