Dimapur, Jan. 21 (EMN): The 2013 batch of the Nagaland Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan Teachers’ Association (NRMSATA, 2013), and the Nagaland SSA Teachers’ Association (NSSATA) have demanded from the government their salary.
The groups issued separate press releases to the media on Monday stating said demand.
‘The NRMSATA 2013 batch is aggrieved by the noncommittal attitude (sic) of the state govt. and the department of School Education for non-payment of salary for five months - August to December – 2018, and appeal them to release the 5 months pending salary which is rightfully earned by rendering our services.’
“The NRMSATA 2013 teachers are serving at the secondary level i.e., class 9 and 10 in all government high school whereby classes started in the month of January every year for taking coaching classes and conducting model exams for class 10 who would be appearing for their matric exam,” the group stated.
The teachers are said to be ‘teaching without salary’ for five months for the sake of the students’ future, the press release read. If the Nagaland government and the departments are ‘really concerned’ about the welfare and ‘future of the students,’ the NRM teachers stated, they must fulfil their part by paying monthly salary of the teachers “so that teachers can give their best without having to think when the next salary will come.”
The teachers complained: “It is difficult to fathom how teachers who are called the builders of the society are expected to work without salary. A teacher is not a superhuman but a human being with the same needs and wants like all state Government employees who expect and also gets their rightful salary on time.
“When all peaceful means of appealing for our rightful salary is exhausted, the teachers are left with no other choice but to resort to agitation by boycotting classes which according to some layman is an act of denying the students their right to education.
“But it is only when you experience mental, material and physical problems that you learn about despair, agony and the ever mental anguish of how to survive with questions like whom shall I ask for credit? When will the creditors come knocking? What if a medical emergency arises? Will I be able to provide for my family as is expected of me?”
The NRMSATA 2013 appeals to the state government and the authorities in concern to address the ‘salary issue’ and release the pending five-month salary at the earliest.
SSA teachers
Likewise, the Nagaland SSA Teachers’ Association (NSSATA) has demanded early release of their salary. The group issued a press release to the media complaining that there has yet to be ‘hardly any changes so far.’
‘The NSSATA (Kohima unit) is dismayed at the indifferent attitude of the government and the Education Department towards the genuine sufferings of the SSA 2010 and 2013 batches. It is disheartening to see that despite repeated appeal to the government and the department there has been hardly any changes so far,’ the press release read.
“The SSA teachers were assured of regular disbursement of salary along with streamlining into the state cadre.”
Regular disbursement of salary however still remains a “distant dream,” the group stated. “The said teachers have not been paid our dues for the past four months, i.e., September to December’18.
“The Kohima unit therefore earnestly appeal to the concerned authorities to prioritise our issues and do the needful at the earliest. We also humbly request to expedite the streamlining of the SSA 2010 and 2013 batches and put an end to these inhuman treatment meted out to us so far.”
