Vikali Shikhu
Unity Village, Dimapur
The state of Nagaland recruited Primary Teachers (PTs) and Graduate Teachers (GTs) of 2010 and 2013 batches under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) flagship programme along with the rest of India. After the recent Teachers' agitation that kept the state capital in a hot soup bowl, many citizens have started crucifying and questioning the authenticity of how the journey began. To condemn or to appreciate, it is always important to know the base of anything so as to stand our ground. To my understanding, a brief background on the issue would give a better picture to our esteemed Teachers as well as others.
Proposal for opening of new GPS (Government Primary School) in school-less habitation and upgradation of GPS to GMS (Government Middle School) gave birth to recruitment of new Teachers under SSA. As per the MHRD guidelines, 2 PTs per GPS and 3 GTs (subject teachers) per GMS were proposed after carrying out habitational survey for identification of schools. All the Districts submitted their respective AWPB (Annual Work Plan Budget), however the total number of GPS & GMS could neither be proposed on need-based nor District specific, following random figure provided by Mizoram consultants whom Nagaland Government "unnecessarily" engaged and deducted lakhs of rupees from all districts totalling crores every year those days. I had to mention this because criticising School Education Department for random opening of new School and upgradation without knowing ground situation holds no water. Upon PAB (Plan Approval Board) Delhi approval of state AWPB, it was finally handed over to the parent department (Directorate) for recruitment of PTs and GTs in all the Districts of Nagaland. Therefore, the Department's RTI response to agitating Teachers was unfortunately inappropriate that the 2010 & 2013 batch of Teachers were recruited by State Government. I believe better coordination and consultation amongst the Department functionaries need to be strengthened further without which the present-like situation of floating on troubled waters may arise again in the future.
Now the SSA recruited Teachers are demanding benefits and rights at par with the State recruited Teachers. They are not entirely at fault while referring to their appointment order as well as the RTI response given by the Department. Both the State Chief Secretary and the Principal Secretary have admitted "short comings" on the part of the Government that needs rectification. Therefore the Teacher's earlier demand of immediate solution to this problem was impractical because there is no magic formula to solve the problem overnight for thousands of Teachers putting in 9 years of continuous service. As far as my limited knowledge goes, many SSA teachers in some State deserted their teaching due to job insecurity as they were recruited only on contractual basis. Till now we have not heard of any State coming out with concrete solution and this issue still remains a big headache witnessing agitations in almost all the States across India. Definitely the Nagaland Government too needs time to dig out the decade old records and examine the details. By default, certain procedures have to be followed and not as we think. As Teachers, we have to be accommodative to office protocol as far as examination and rectification of papers are concerned.
For those of you who stay tuned on comparative study might be well aware of SSA Teachers’ episode, hitting the streets and dominating electronic and print media all over the country and Nagaland is no exception. For instance, in Jammu & Kashmir, the media reported on June 1, 2018 that the Chairman J&K Teachers’ Forum Farooq Ahmad Tantray lamented "They refused to give 7th pay commission to SSA Teachers and said it was a contractual scheme. They told us that we have been regularised by mistake and it is difficult to de-link the salary from MHRD at once." The State Education Minister Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali said "de-linking of SSA was not easy but Government is trying to find out a solution." Again the media reported on June 12, 2018 that Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had ordered release of Rs 143 cr for SSA Teachers for the month of May. However, the salary for all these months has been released as per the 6th pay commission which disappointed the Teachers. The President J&K Teachers’ Forum Abdul Qayoom Wani said the demand of SSA Teachers and Head-Teachers was not the release of salary but its revision in order to enjoy the benefits of the 7th pay commission, and the de-linking of salary from MHRD. The State's Finance Minister Syed Muhammad Altaf Bukhari said “Their absorption in state budget will be done against available posts which have not been created as on date.” The Education Minister Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali also said the committee has been constituted to examine the demand of SSA Teachers for the 7th pay commission and other issues.
I personally respect the NSSATA group of Teachers and hold them in higher esteem than the backdoor Teachers who were appointed on contractual or adhoc basis. When their services were regularised, they even fought with the Department in the Court and the verdict was passed in their favor citing that their seniority be counted w.e.f the date of appointment. Now another group of Teachers who were appointed through open competition earlier have also been victimised in the Department's seniority list after accommodating hundreds of regularised backdoor Teachers following Court verdict. Nagaland is such a State where the backdoor appointees are more on the advantageous side in many Departments. The State was once rocked by bogus Teachers and ghost Teachers issues. Most of them were well qualified but many amongst them were wonderfully unqualified. The Department could clearly make out their performances from the Teachers’ training programmes as well as monitoring their classroom teachings. They fought tooth and nail earlier but now many of them indulge in proxy keeping practices. No matter what category a particular Teacher may belong, all the appointed Teachers get their salary on time. But sadly, not in the case of the Substitute Teachers and the SSA teachers. We know you deserve to fight for survival and deeply sorry to see many of you surviving on credit. But again, the most unfortunate ones are the substitute Teachers and all the categories of honorarium employees under SSA not being paid w.e.f April 2017 till date. Only God knows how they have been managing to pull through and hold on for 14 long months.
The SSA recruited Teachers of 2010 & 2013 batches made their way to the Department through front door and proper channel. It is up to the wisdom of higher authority for final decision because they know what is best for the State. If I were to be honest, in my opinion, NSSATA group is the best batch recruited so far. I believe those who deal with Teachers will definitely agree with me about their performances during Teacher's training, classroom teaching, election duty, census duty etc. Meanwhile on the part of the Teachers too, please be reminded that SSA recruited Teachers' posts are not "transferrable" under any circumstances. No one has the right to hijack the post and take off to other destinations as per one's whims and fancies. It would be wise on the part of the Government to seriously view should there be any attempt of "transfer with post or District transfer" cases that arises out of political will. The reason behind your posting and purpose of recruitment should be respected at any cost (The post belongs to school, recruitment process explained in the second paragraph of this write-up). Some rotten potatoes should not spoil the whole basket. Streamline your members in all 12 Districts and discourage fellow Teachers should you come across anyone keeping proxies like backdoor appointed Teachers. We expect better standard from your group than political appointees. Keep standing your ground but do not compromise on quality education, integrity and decorum. God bless.
