DIMAPUR, OCTOBER 26: The authorities of the tainted education departments of Nagaland have been given a seeming ‘reminder’ by a local teachers’ group: the sole income and economic lifeline for teachers is their salary only.
Now with most of the teaching groups in the state in agitation against the state’s failure to release their pending dues, it is time that the government remembers not to put the wellbeing of students at risk, a teachers’ group from Mokokchung has reminded the government.
On Wednesday, the Mokokchung unit of the All Nagaland Government Primary Teachers Association (ANGPTA) issued a copy of a representation that was addressed to the director of School Education.
‘We are all aware of the ongoing agitation in the form of boycotting of classes by the Nagaland SSA Teachers Association and the All Nagaland Aggrieved Hindi Teachers Association for nearly two weeks now due to non-payment of salaries for the past five to seven months,’ the organization began.
“We are all aware of the fact that salary is the only source of income particularly for the teachers. However, the monthly salary due for the teachers is not paid for months and is made to work (on) empty stomach.”
This circumstance is causing untold hardship and even making it virtually impossible for the affected community to carry out their duties diligently, the organization stated.
“The teachers are working under different conditions, some of them even posted in the remotest region making it difficult even to manage their daily needs. Moreover, some of the schools are badly affected due to the ongoing agitation,” they stated.
This is a crucial time in the academic calendar when the student community has reached a point to give their best and appear their final examinations, the ANGPTA stated.
It is true that the teachers and students are trying to cover the syllabus and prepare for the term end examinations, the group state d. “...but everything has come to a halt. The careers of the students are thus hampered for which the teachers will not be responsible.”
The ANGPTA has appealed to the department to get serious and address the ongoing crisis “with highest priority and solve the matter at the earliest so that normal duty of the teachers resumes for the greater interest of the student community in particular and the society in general.”
The failure to pay salary on time to teachers has “greatly disappointed and de-motivated” the teachers from working diligently, the group stated and one “which has in turn in a great way affected the quality of education especially in the government schools.”
The ANGPTA expresses pain that a section of teachers has not being paid their salary for months.
“The unit appeals to the department concerned to bring a permanent solution to this problem so that the lives of innocent students are not put at risk,” the association added.
