Nagaland RMSA-2016 teachers' agitation enters day 7

Kohima, Sep 16 (PTI) The Nagaland RMSA-2016 batch teachers, on the seventh day of their agitation, took out a march from the Directorate of School Education to the Civil Secretariat here on Tuesday.

Carrying placards and banners, and shouting slogans, the protesting teachers reiterated their demand for scale pay, regularisation, and mainstreaming into the state teaching cadre - benefits already extended to their counterparts from the 2010-13 batches.

The Nagaland RMSA-2016 Teachers' Association (NRMSATA-2016), led by President Imlitemjen Imchen, stated that the teachers would not return to their duties unless the government fully honoured their demands.

Imchen claimed that the RMSA guidelines clearly specify that states and UTs should maintain unified teaching cadres and avoid creating a separate "RMSA cadre," underlining that these teachers are an integral part of the state's teaching system.

He accused the department of coercing the selected teachers into signing an affidavit agreeing to serve on a contractual basis co-terminus with the scheme.

He claimed that in 2022, the teachers successfully challenged a government order reducing their salary from Rs 31,000 to Rs 25,000 in the Guwahati High Court, which ruled in their favour.

However, the state government later filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court, which also upheld the lower court’s decision, he said.

Despite clear court rulings in favour of the teachers, the government's current stance involves delaying implementation by stating that a review petition was filed in the Supreme Court on August 14, which is yet to be admitted, he said.

"This is a deliberate delaying tactic," he said, adding that instead of letting the teachers continue to fight in court over the review petition, the department should accept their demand and let them go to their classes and conduct revision lessons for students. The Nagaland government, through the School Education department and the NSDMA, reiterated that the 2016 batch teachers were engaged on a contractual basis under the RMSA, and their tenure is co-terminus with the scheme and subject to annual funding from the Government of India.

The state assured that once the Supreme Court passes its order in the review petition, it will implement the verdict.

Meanwhile, the Naga Mothers' Association (NMA) on Tuesday sought the immediate intervention of the Governor of Nagaland.

In a letter to the governor, the NMA apprised him that the court had directed the state to grant scale pay to the aggrieved teachers.

The Association strongly urged the state government, through the governor's office, to grant justice to the agitating teachers and implement the court's orders without further delay. PTI NBS NBS RG