DIMAPUR, MAY 11 (MExN): The All Nagaland Government Primary Teachers' Association (ANGPTA) has requested the School Education Department for immediate intervention to address the SSA teachers’ grievances and issues.
“The Stakeholders as in the pursuit of providing quality education to our children, the concern of the ANGPTA is drawn by the fractured journey of the academic session 2018-19, which begun with the delayed disbursement of textbooks, NLA Election process, delayed HSLC and HSSLC examinations 2018 and now the ongoing pen down agitations and the chances of more agitations to follow by different aggrieved teachers in the immediate future,” a press note from the ANGPTA stated.
The association termed it a matter of great embarrassment to “disclose one’s career secrecy, decencies and professional grievances in the public domain.” It however stated that “time and again the teachers appointed under SSA are being subjected to undergo this harassment and humiliation due to the apathy of the government in addressing the core issue of giving recognition to the SSA teachers at par with the other state employees as per the conditions mentioned in their appointment orders.”
The ANGPTA felt that the maxim, as is the duty of every teacher to teach with utmost sincerity so is the duty of the government to provide regular and timely salaries and all other benefits to all its employees without discriminations, should be applied in toto.
“That the SSA teachers, who are neither less professional nor less qualified, are delivering and rendering their service to the best of their abilities and sincerity like any other government teachers, but the constant harassment and victimization by not releasing their salaries and other entitlements on time have pushed them to the edge, as a result they have resorted to pen down strike and agitation to obtain their rights,” it added.
The ANGPTA lamented that this situation has created an unhealthy, demoralizing and de-motivating atmosphere in the schools, thereby making the children to pay the ultimate price with their future for no fault of theirs.
The situation demands for an immediate intervention on the matter, it said, and appealed to the concerned authority to “utilize their vast experiences and powers to positively address this recurrent issues related to the SSA teachers with utmost sincerity and wisdom.” The ANGPTA also appealed to all stakeholders to see to it that “utmost care is given to the interest of our children, whose education and future is entrusted to us, so that we don’t drown them in the whirlpool.”
