Morung Express News
Dimapur | September 3
The government today issued a tacit warning to the agitating RMSA teachers telling all the “affected teachers” to take a “decision as an individual on whether to accept the offered salary or not and report to their respective DEO.”
In a press release issued against the backdrop of ongoing Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) teachers agitation in the state over reduced salary, the state mission office ‘requested’ the take the opportunity and report to their respective DEO.
Earlier, the Nagaland RMSA Teachers Association-2016 has said that it will begin its 2nd phase agitation from September 4 with peaceful sit-in protest at the Directorate of School Education (DoSE), Kohima.
The press release issued by the RMSA state mission office stated that appointment was done directly by RMSA mission authority, not by the state government with many binding clauses.
Among others, the release said, the clauses stated that the “service is purely on contractual basis and is liable to be terminated with one month notice as and when deemed fit by the appointing authority.”
The tenure of engagement is co-terminus with RMSA scheme, it added.
Moreover, the payment of salary “shall be subject to release of fund for the purpose by the MHRD Government of India,” the release maintained quoting from the clause. The teachers, according the clause, must not “not resort to any kind of agitation awaiting funds from the GOI for salary.”
'State government not responsible'
According the release, the clause 4 &6 of the appointed further stated that “the appointments are through funding under RMSA programme” and “the state government will not be responsible for their salaries including future service career of the appointees.
As per the government release, the Ministry of Human Resource Development, GoI has recently integrated the erstwhile Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan into a single entity named as ‘Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan’ from 2018-19 onwards
“As a policy to this merger, GOI has also issued guidelines fixing salary payable to RMSA Subject Teachers at Rs. 25,000/- per month from 2018-19,” it added.
Consequently, the release said that notice “was served to this category of teachers to accept this salary of Rs.25000/- per month, a drop from Rs.31315/-.”
On being served with this notice, the current agitation had started, it maintained.
The state mission office has also issued a notice to the teachers to attend to their duties but went unheeded, it said, adding, the authority has “no means of getting additional fund to maintain their current salary "(Rs.31315) In this regard, the release appended by Menukhol John, Principal Secretary to the Government of Nagaland, SE & Ex- Officio Vice Chairman, Executive Committee and Limawabang Aier, State Mission Director, asked the teachers to take the opportunity and take a “decision as an individual on whether to accept the offered salary or not.”
