Shillong, Dec 17: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Thursday maintained that members of the teaching fraternity should give full time to the education sector instead of diverting into other areas like politics.

He was reacting to the demand of the Voice of the People Party (VPP) to withdraw the notification which bars government employees including teachers from holding office in any political organization.

When asked, Sangma told reporters that the state government is yet to take any stand on the demand made.

“…we will see, we will examine but as of now there is no move as such to withdraw or change that particular order,” he said.

The Chief Minister also said that the government had in fact taken a stand on the issue of government employees especially teachers joining politics.

“We feel that education is very important and it is important that people who are involved in education should give full time to education and should not divert into other areas like politics,” he stated.

He further said that does not mean that they cannot not politically have their stand or do whatever they want but holding a position of being actively involved in politics, holding official post is something that this particular order is barring.

“So this is a standard we have taken, if there are any issues in that as I said, whoever has any concerns about it, they are free to move forward with any kind of litigation,” the chief minister added.