Kohima, Sept 8: Teachers appointed under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) 2016 batch in Nagaland have begun an indefinite sit-in protest outside the Directorate of School Education (DoSE), Kohima, demanding long-overdue salary benefits and equal pay in accordance with court rulings.
The Nagaland RMSA Teachers Association 2016 batch (NRMSATA-2016), representing 367 teachers across 133 government high schools in 17 districts, accused the state government of failing to implement the pay scale despite favorable judgments from both the Gauhati High Court in 2022 and the Supreme Court of India.
RMSA spokesperson Renbemo L. Patton said the government had ignored clear guidelines issued by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), which mandated that RMSA teachers be appointed on par with the state cadre. He added that the government’s inaction had left teachers with no choice but to launch the protest.
“If the government continues to remain silent, we will intensify our agitation and resort to hunger strikes,” Patton warned, while emphasizing that teachers were deeply concerned about the welfare of students. “We have no desire to sit outside the DoSE, but we are compelled to fight for our rights.”
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The teachers are demanding recognition of their salary and service benefits from the date of appointment in 2016, implementation of the 2017 Revision of Pay (ROP) scale with annual increments, and parity with their 2010 SSA-RMSA counterparts. They are also calling for enforcement of Office Memorandum No. AR-3/GEN-231/2011, dated March 29, 2017.
In a statement, the NRMSATA-2016 termed the government’s refusal to act as “a violation of legal mandates and a grave affront to justice and human dignity.” The association reaffirmed that the protest will remain peaceful, non-violent, and lawful, in accordance with directives from the Deputy Commissioner of Kohima.
Civil society groups, student unions, and the public have been urged to extend solidarity to the protesting teachers, who vowed to continue their demonstration until the government fulfills their demands.
