DIMAPUR, AUGUST 1 (MExN): The All Nagaland Graduate Teachers Forum (ANGTF) has submitted a representation to the Commissioner and Secretary, School Education with a request to keep in abeyance the department’s proposal on a limited departmental examination till such a time that the ongoing revision of department service rules is completed.
It reminded that due to presence of “various inherent anomalies” in the Nagaland
School Education Service Rules 2017, the Constituent employees associations of the department had demanded for necessary review of it.
After series of consultative meetings on the issue, the government decided to set up a review committee to review the service rules 2017. However, due to the pandemic the revision of the said service rules could not be completed in time and the same exercise is still going on, it informed.
It therefore asked that the proposed limited departmental examination be kept in abeyance till such time the revision of the service rules is completed.
The forum meanwhile mentioned that the seniority list of Graduate Teachers (GTs) is under preparation in the department. “So long as the GT Seniority is under construction there would be no basis to determine the actual seniority of GT. Since GT Seniority list could not be finalized till date we do not know who is senior and who is junior in the list and who are eligible for the proposed LDE because some GTs do not have both appointment and regularization orders,” it added.
Further, it noted that in the department’s proposal, the professional degree of B.Ed is made equivalent to PSTE/DEL.ED, which the forum termed as “unbecoming and unacceptable.” It also said that the posts of AHM/JEO are the immediate higher posts for the trained GTs to be filled up through promotion. The forum hence said that the post of AHM/JEO cannot be reserved for PT/PGT etc, through exam or by other means. Doing so would lead to supersession and encroachment of GTs promotional avenues in the department, it added.
The ANGTF further stated that the nature of appointment, the cadre, nature/level of work and scale pay of PT & GT is different. “Therefore clubbing up of these two cadres in the proposal will create lot of complication in the service matter in near future,” it said.
It meanwhile informed that since the inception of Department of School Education in 1964, there was no single case where the vacancy of AHM Post has been filled up through NPSC Exam. But the vacant post of AHM is being filled up through promotion of GTs with B.Ed on seniority, the forum said.
It therefore urged that all the existing vacancies of AHM/JEO should be filled up though promotion of senior GTs who possess professional degree and not through any limited departmental examination to be conducted by NPSC as proposed by the department.
If at all necessary for department to initiate LDE exercise, the forum urge upon the concerned authority to carry it out only after backlog cases of GTs promotion stagnation are cleared, because at present around 300 AHM posts are lying vacant in the department in one hand whereas on the other hand senior GTs (who have served for 25-30 years) are overdue for promotion.
