RMSA teachers urge Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio to implement the pay parity judgement and end years of uncertainty.
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DIMAPUR — The Nagaland RMSA Teachers Association (2016 Batch) has appealed to Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio to intervene and ensure the implementation of a court-backed pay parity judgement.
In an open letter addressed to the chief minister, the association stated that more than a decade of service and years of legal battles have yet to translate into relief for hundreds of teachers appointed under the erstwhile Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA).
It asserted that the issue had reached a stage where its resolution was no longer merely an administrative matter but an opportunity for the government to reaffirm its commitment to fairness, good governance and respect for public service.
The teachers, who joined the department of School Education in 2016 through a competitive recruitment process, said that they were appointed to meet the academic needs of government high schools upgraded under the RMSA scheme across the state.
According to the association, the RMSA graduate teachers have been performing the same duties as regular teachers for over ten years, including classroom teaching, invigilation of public examinations, evaluation of answer scripts, mentoring students and managing school activities.
Despite this, they stated, they have continued to remain on fixed pay throughout the period.
The association recalled that the issue of pay parity had resulted in a prolonged legal battle spanning nearly eight years.
The matter eventually reached the Supreme Court, which in January 2026 dismissed both a Special Leave Petition and a subsequent Review Petition, thereby upholding an earlier judgement of the Gauhati High Court's Kohima Bench affirming the principle of “Equal Pay for Equal Work.”
While the verdict had given teachers hope that the approved pay scale would soon be implemented, the association alleged that the judgement remains unimplemented even five months after the dismissal of the review petition.
The teachers pointed out that more than ten years of uninterrupted service, over eight years of litigation and four years since the High Court's judgement of March 16, 2022, have elapsed without any progress in implementing the court-directed pay scale.
The association maintained that the RMSA teaching posts were never intended to be casual or temporary positions.
It stated that the posts had been created with the approval of the state Cabinet, the Finance department and the Personnel and Administrative Reforms department to meet the long-term academic requirements of upgraded government high schools.
Highlighting their contribution to the state's education sector, the teachers claimed that RMSA-upgraded schools have recorded notable improvements in academic and co-curricular performance over the years, with students achieving success in academic, vocational, scientific, artistic and cultural competitions at district, state and national levels.
The association also referred to recent developments in neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh, where RMSA teachers with similar service backgrounds were reportedly regularised, and added that several states and courts across the country have increasingly recognised the need to provide security and fair service conditions to teachers recruited under national education schemes.
Appealing for government intervention, the association urged the chief minister to implement the court judgement and provide clarity regarding the future service conditions of RMSA-2016 graduate teachers.
“The last decade should be remembered not only for the years spent in litigation, but also for the day when the matter was finally resolved with wisdom, fairness, and statesmanship. We hope that day is now,” the letter read.