To
The Director
School Education, Nagaland
Sub: Please release teachers’ salaries for the sake of Phom students
Sir,
With our deepest concern, we would like to share with you the story of untold miseries and sufferings of the innocent Phom students who are unnecessarily victimized by the Directorate of School Education in the process of cleansing and eradicating bogus appointments at DIS office, Longleng. We do not question the authority in this regard. However, we are only concerned about the fact that as the Deptt. carries out such a Herculean task, many families especially students are in loss for words. They have no language to tell the pain they are going through.
Many Phom parents have their children studying in boarding schools at Kohima and Dimapur and outside Nagaland and for 3 months at a stretch, teachers are not given their salaries. It is heart wrenching to see students returning home for not being able to pay their college and boarding fees. Their names are shamefully displayed in college and hostel notice board. In their impressionable age, this will become the most bitter incident etched in their memory. Parents are at their wit’s end. They borrow money at interest rates and for their daily sustenance they take commodities from shops on credit. Today, the shops in Longleng are closed and the street is wearing a deserted look because a sense of frustration has started to creep in already.
Many students are dropping out of schools and tomorrow God forbid, the drop-out students will take advantage of this incident and become trouble makers in our society.
When we look at teachers in Phom area, it is wrong to blame everyone as bogus. There are genuine, sincere teachers on the verge of retirement and to such honourable teachers, is it not unreasonable to deny them their rightful share?
We are writing this letter purely on humanitarian and compassionate ground and are hopeful that every Naga will understand and think about the plight of Phom students and families. The wearer of the shoe knows where it pinches and primarily it is hoped that the Deptt. of School Education will come up with wisdom and solution and relieve the aggrieved teachers. Prompt action will heal the wound but prolonging the matter will add more salt to the wound.
Therefore, it is with our deepest concern and also with ardent request to the Directorate of School Education, we are sharing this untold misery of Phom people.
Concerned Phom citizens,
Anungla Phom, Sino Phom, W Manpai Phom, C Danted Phom, Along Phom, P Shanthong Phom
