Striking lecturers in Manipur suspend pen-down agitation after talks

IMPHAL — Academic activities in higher secondary schools across Manipur have resumed following the suspension of the 11-day pen-down strike by lecturers of the 2018 batch under the Lecturers' Association Manipur (LAM).

The decision to call off the agitation temporarily came after representatives of LAM held talks with senior officials of the Education department and reached an understanding on key demands, including the long-pending issue of service regularisation.

In a press statement, LAM 2018 Batch Secretary Irengbam Malemnganbi confirmed the development, stating that the association had decided to withdraw the strike "for some time."

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According to the statement, groundwork and procedures concerning pending regularisation files have been completed and are now ready to be submitted for approval by the competent authority—governor-in-council—within the next two to three days.

The delay in moving the files, the statement clarified, was due to the recent appointment of senior department officials and the time required to finalise administrative groundwork.

LAM also noted that the government had assured the revocation of transfer orders issued against three executive members of the 2018 batch, which had earlier sparked resentment among the striking lecturers.

The association urged the government to fulfil the assurances without further delay.

It may be recalled that over 64 government higher secondary schools in the state were affected by the agitation, which began on July 21. A total of 603 lecturers, who were appointed in 2018 and approved for regularisation by a Cabinet decision, had launched the pen-down strike demanding release of pending salaries and confirmation of their service.

Although the protest was initially scheduled to end on July 26, it was extended until August 2 after authorities failed to respond to the lecturers' demands during the first week of the agitation.

On Thursday, the striking lecturers had staged a mass sit-in protest at a community hall in Imphal, expressing strong disappointment over the government’s silence on their grievances.

With the strike now suspended, normal classes are expected to resume across the affected institutions from Friday.