18-month deadline for mainstreaming of SSA & RMSA teachers expiring on April 18

Morung Express News
Kohima | April 6

The School Education department of Nagaland has been afflicted with a series of setbacks; one of which is the unresolved issue of integrating the SSA and RMSA teachers of 2010 & 2013 batches into the State Education cadre.

While the state government, on October 18, 2020, assured that it would look into the process of mainstreaming the 2010 and 2013 batches of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) teachers, the 18-month time frame sought by the government ‘to bring the issue to a logical conclusion’ is expiring on April 18.

The history

Mention may be made that the Nagaland Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Teachers Association (NSSATA) launched intensive agitations in June 2018, following which an agreement was made between the NSSATA and School Education department through the intervention of the Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) and Eastern Naga Students’ Federation (ENSF) on June 12, 2018.

Among others, it was agreed that the department would find a mechanism for timely release of salaries, and the government would pay the 7th Central Pay Commission (RoP) for SSA teachers of 2010 & 2013 batches in line with the state NPS cadres.

Subsequently, a State Cabinet meeting was held on October 5, 2018, following which an office memorandum accessed by The Morung Express stated that “the Cabinet deliberated on the report of the committee constituted to look into the matters relating to SSA & RMSA Teachers of 2010 & 2013 batches, as per the decision taken in the meeting held on September 26, 2019, and decided ‘in principle’ to bring the teachers of all the 2010 & 2013 batches of SSA & RMSA teachers into the mainstream of the schools education cadre with a condition that all the schools will be linked with biometric attendance and linking of Aadhar number of all the teachers will be linked to the same which has also been decided by the Cabinet on March 8, 2018.”

“The Cabinet further directed the department to club/merge all the neighbouring schools which are not performing or producing nil or have negligible enrolment. Further the Cabinet directed the department to frame guidelines or find a feasible solution to give golden handshake to the teachers who are under qualified or untrained teachers,” the office memorandum stated.

However, on October 12, 2020, the NSF and ENSF called for an indefinite state wide bandh as the demand for mainstreaming of SSA and RMSA teachers of 2010 & 2013 continued to remain unresolved.

Subsequently, the state Chief Secretary wrote to the President of NSF and ENSF dated October 18, 2020 stating that the issue of mainstreaming of the SSA & RMSA (2010 & 2013 batches) teachers requires in depth consideration of the Government. 

“For this reason, the federations are requested to give the Government a period of 18 (eighteen) months to bring the matter to a logical conclusion once and for all within the stipulated time” stated the Chief Secretary's official letter.

Consequently, on November 6, 2020, the cabinet in its meeting decided that the department should pursue for development of GPS based biometric attendance and rationalisation and clubbing/merger of schools and initiate steps to implement ‘Golden Handshake’ for the teachers who are under qualified or untrained.

The meeting minutes, among others, stated that the process of formally integrating or absorbing the 2010 & 2013 batches of SSA and RMSA teachers into the teacher cadre of the school education department would be done only after proper legal clearance.

“Freeze all appointments for a period of 18 (eighteen) months till the mainstreaming of the SSA & RMSA teachers are completed,” stated the Cabinet meeting minutes.

The education department was further directed to constitute a Task Force for verification and assessment of the teachers in all the government schools in the state and also identify dedicated officers in the department to oversee the rationalisation and mainstreaming process.

The loophole

While the government had earlier claimed that the teachers were appointed by the Nagaland directorate of school education in 2010 and 2013 against posts created under the Centrally-sponsored SSA and RMSA schemes, the NSSATA and NRMSATA (2010 & 2013 batches) refuted the claim time and again.

According to the advertisements and appointment orders, the SSA teachers of 2010 & 2013 batches along with RMSA 2013 batch are regular employees as per the advertisements and the nature of appointment.

The teachers were endowed with pay scale and other allowances prescribed by the government of Nagaland from time to time with effect from the date of joining  along with deduction of NPS and GIS.

In another order by the Directorate of School Education dated May 3, 2010 it stated “in the event of discontinuation of SSA programme their pay & allowance shall be borne by the state.”

Further in response to an RTI query dated October 29, 2013 it stated, “Mention may be made that post creation is not done by SSA. It is a government of Nagaland undertaking. Hence, teachers are appointed on a regular basis and their service is not co-terminus with SSA project.”

The same was corroborated by the then State Chief Secretary during a press briefing in 2018, who admitted that the loophole was committed on the part of the state government while making appointments “for which it is now struggling to find the solution of this problem.”