For the tenth consecutive day, 367 teachers of the Nagaland RMSA 2016 batch have maintained an indefinite sit-in outside the Civil Secretariat, demanding the implementation of scale pay and other court-upheld benefits. With the government committee rejected by the teachers, the protest now edges toward a potential hunger strike.
According to NT, Spokesperson Renbemo Patton warned that the association’s next course of action will be entering into hunger strike. However, according to NE Live, the teachers have refrained from launching a hunger strike, stating that they were advised against it by the Naga Students’ Federation. However, protestors remain determined not to return home until the government implements the court’s verdict and grants them their rightful pay scale.
“Our stand is clear. Unless the verdict is implemented, we will not back down, no matter how long it takes,” said Patton.
Speaking after a meeting with government officials on September 18, Patton criticized the proposal to form a committee. “After long years of struggle, just to form a committee is not wise on the part of the government,” he said. The association rejected the committee and gave the government time to present meaningful proposals before leaving the meeting in good terms.
Advisor for School Education, Dr Kekhrielhoulie Yhome, who visited the protesters on September 19 for the first time since September 8, confirmed that the committee constituted on September 18 will proceed with or without teacher participation. “If they want to be part of it, it is totally up to them. But with or without them, the committee will go ahead because this committee will study the situation and ultimately come up with a solution,” EM quoted him as saying.
Yhome maintained that the government is not against the teachers’ cause but procedures must be followed. A committee headed by the Principal Secretary under the Chief Minister’s initiative has been formed.
“Solution also comes with more financial implications,” he said, noting that most of the school education budget goes to salaries. He also noted that the use of terms such as “regular, contingency, substitute, adult and skilled teachers” has created confusion within schools.
According to MEx, the 367 protesting teachers, he said, were recruited under the centrally sponsored RMSA scheme in 2016 alongside hundreds of others on contractual terms. Teachers who approached the court receive Rs 31,350 per month, while non-petitioners draw Rs 25,000. Yhome explained, “Technically what they are asking is, they want full employment, full government of Nagaland employment, so they have gone to court, and the court has advised the Government of Nagaland to give scale pay, so accordingly the Government of Nagaland has put up a review petition, therefore the case is sub judice.”
The Advisor stressed that their appointment is purely “contingency” and can be terminated with one month’s notice. He referred to the bond signed at appointment, which bars agitations for unreleased central funds, allows termination after 15 days’ absence, and does not permit objections to transfers.
Yhome cautioned against open protests attracting “individuals who may not fully understand the issue but add unnecessary noise and slander.” He highlighted the sincerity of many contingency teachers, crediting them for improvements in matriculation results from 37% to 47%, while also pointing out evidence of some RMSA teachers “who have not joined their school even for a single day.”
He also referred to past experiences, warning that mediation by civil society and student bodies could “repeat the mistakes of the past,” referencing the SSA agitation between 2010 and 2013.
With the committee yet to hold its first sitting and the academic year drawing to a close, the RMSA teachers’ protest remains unresolved. Both legal and procedural paths are in motion, but the possibility of a hunger strike underlines the urgency of a resolution.
