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A group of teachers seen here during their peaceful sit-in protest at the junction of the Census Office at Bayavü, in Kohima on Tuesday. (EM Images)[/caption]
Kohima, Sep. 4 (EMN): The call to a peaceful sit-in protest by the batch-2016 of the Nagaland RMSA Teachers’ Association (NRMSATA) on September 4 was dispersed around noon by the district administration and law-enforcing agency, as they had not obtained permission from the authorities.
Around 600 teachers under the NRMSATA’s banner gathered at the Census Office junction at Bayavü, as they were not allowed to proceed to the directorate of School Education by the district administration, which put up a strong barricade at the junction.
The RMSA teachers had called for the peaceful sit-in protest in rejection of a government memorandum, terming it ‘flawed and imposing’ with much “disparity and discrepancies,” and had demanding that it be revoked. However, the protest was cut short with the intervention of the district administration and law-enforcing agency.
Despite the department refusing to budge in the face of the agitation called by the teachers and being denied permission by the district administration, the association went ahead with the sit-in protest, which was met with strong resistance from the district administration and law enforcement. However, there was no incidence of confrontation or violence.
The teachers were seen holding placards that read, among others: “How many bond agreements will the RMSA 2016 sing?”; “Let’s switch places, maybe then you will understand”; “Prices are soaring but our salary is declining”; “Agitation is becoming another subject in the school curriculum,” etc.
The DIG (range), police superintendent of Kohima, and the civic administration asked the leaders of the association to disperse peacefully stating that they had illegally assembled. Should they continue with the assembly, they were cautioned, it might result to unwanted situations.
There have been claims and allegations from both sides: While the teachers are claiming that the office notification dated October 28, 2015 had been kept confidential, mentioning only point four and the sixth to bind them. One of the points states that “the department of School Education shall clearly specify the terms and conditions of appointment in the appointment order indicating that the appointments are through funding under RMSA programme and that the state government will not be responsible for their salaries including future service careers of the appointees.”
A source from the state’s mission authority iterated that the terms and conditions were clearly mentioned during their appointment. The source stated an inability to meet any shortfall amount from the state’s resources. Hence, the source asserted, the authorities shall stand by the decision.
To the allegations made by the batch’s NRMSATA, Principal Secretary Menukhol John told
that one ought take the clauses in totality and understand the overall funding pattern, the resources, how much the Central government is expected to give, and how much the shortfall was etc. One should not make allegations based on particular clauses only, the officer said.
The project approval board of the ministry of Human Resource Development has recommended that the state should meet the balance amount from its (state) resources including additional funds devolved under the 14th finance commission. As per section 7 (5) of the RTE Act, 2009, the state government shall after taking into consideration the sum of funds provided by the central government and the mandatory state share, and provide the balance funds necessary to fulfil the estimate for the implementation of the Act.
John pointed out that this year, the department was facing a peculiar situation. “Whatever the estimate we are not getting the entire amount, not only this issue but we are having a lot of problems on other issues.” He maintained that the association had not written to the department: “If they write, we will give it to them in black and white,” he added. Although there are terms and conditions in the clause, John said, the teachers will be given another chance in the revised scheme with the scenario changing a bit.
The officer asserted that the teachers have been given time to take decisions. In this regard, he appealed to the teachers to exercise wisdom.
The teachers’ president, Sao Venuh, said that although the sit-in protest was dispersed, the protest had not been called off. He said that the next step would be decided soon.
