Morung Express News
Kohima | March 16
A different year it may be, but the same protests continue in Nagaland. The anger of the protestors is slowly fading to exhaustion. Yet, the struggle has not waned.
The salary issue for teachers has been going on since 2013, says Sherinlo Keppen, from Dimapur who mentions that the CSS Hindi teachers never received regular salary since then.
Last year in November a meeting held with the officials of Department of School Education came to an agreement that all the pending salaries will be paid within 2016, however the teachers are running on the tenth month now without salaries.
“To maintain our dignity, we resorted to non-violent agitation where we wore black badges to work in the first phase. But it hurts our sentiments that none of the leaders, the officials and Ministers have come to talk with us or enquire about our conditions,” says Keppen, stating that the officials continued to give excuses mostly passing the blame on the Central Government.
Some of the excuses given, according to Keppen, were: ‘The MHRD officials keep changing’, ‘Since the Planning Commission was changed to Niti Ayog with the emergence of Modi Government, the system has been changed which is one major problem’.
“We have families, we have bills to pay, we need food. Some of us have been chased away by the house owners. We have to borrow money with an interest of 10 percent. We have been threatened of being jailed. We cannot bear it anymore. We are also human beings. But our misery is not being understood by the people in power,” laments Keppen.
Leaving her two month old baby in Dimapur, Elika, CSS Hindi Teacher Convenor, has joined the protest. Elika explains that although all the Hindi teachers are suffering the same misery, the worst hardships are faced by teachers in far flung areas. “We are feeling tired of sharing our grievances to the officials,” she states.
On March 14, the Chief Secretary had tried to negotiate with the teachers to agree on two months’ salary but this was flatly refused by the agitating teachers. The reason being that two months’ salary will not be enough to pay the credit that the teachers have taken for nine months besides the interest that has piled up.
“What can we do with two months’ salary?” questions Elika, adding that unless the department fulfills their demands to pay their nine months’ salary, the agitation will continue.
Another demand is the absorption of the CSS Hindi Teachers in the State plan.
The CSS Hindi Teachers and ANHTU have decided to go on an indefinite agitation at the Nagaland Civil Secretariat Kohima. In a statement written to the Principal Secretary of School Education, it stated, “If something happens to teachers during the agitation from the government’s side, the government will be fully responsible for the Act.”
A teacher’s ordeal
Vingusanuo is a Hindi teacher at Lower Primary School Loakkun, Mon. Travelling for almost 14 hours all the way from Mon, changing five vehicles, Vingusanuo made it to the capital on borrowed money. Carrying her four month old child, Vingusanuo is protesting outside the Secretariat Complex in Kohima on March 14.
What could have been a six hour journey was extended to 14 hours because of the lack of transportation in Loakkun. “I borrowed money to come to Kohima for the protest. We don’t get taxis in our area. There is only one day bus in Tizit that goes to Dimapur so you have to go early and catch the bus (which moves by 4:30 am) on time because if you miss it, you will have to wait the entire day to book the night bus,” narrates Vingusanuo.
From Loakkun, the first destination is to reach Kanubari bazaar where travelers have to hitch ride in private vehicles to go to Tizit. After boarding the sole Tizit bus to Dimapur, the mother then had to catch a taxi to Kohima. “From Dimapur, I caught a taxi till Kohima town and then I had to hire another taxi to go to Porterlane at by parent’s house. I reached home only at 6.30 in the evening. With so much difficulty I came here,” exclaims the aggrieved teacher.
The stress that Vingusanuo goes through is beyond financial. With an enrollment of more than 140 students in the Lower Primary School Loakkun, she is the sole Hindi Teacher in the school. Even during pregnancy and after delivery, she had to go to school despite being on leave.
“Exams were approaching and I was worried for the students so I had to go to school despite being on leave. There was no one to take my place. We did all this without any salary.”
When asked how she is surviving without salary for nine months, Vingusanuo says that she is dependent on others for her survival. Expressing her disappointment over the failure of the government to provide their salaries, Vingusanuo laments, “The government pretends as if they haven’t seen our misery, even though they can clearly see it.”
