‘No more silence, pay up!’

RMSA-2016 teachers launch indefinite sit-in protest

Morung Express News
Kohima | September 8

The Nagaland RMSA Teachers’ Association 2016 comprising of 367 teachers from 133 Government High Schools across the state converged outside the Directorate of School Education for its indefinite sit-in protest this morning on September 8.

Protestors held placards that read: ‘If education doesn’t teach you to resist injustice, it has failed,’ ‘honor the verdict, value our service,’ ‘Supreme Court spoke, why won’t you act?’ ‘No more silence, pay up!’ etc.

Addressing media personnel, RMSA Teachers’ Association spokesperson, Renbemo L Patton said, the government has no reason to delay the implementation of the pay scale any further.

Briefly recounting the history, Patton said the courts have ruled in its favour; wherein the High Court ruled in its favour in 2022, and the Supreme Court upheld it this year. “We have the necessary clearance from the P&AR and the Finance Department and also approval of the Cabinet,” he added.

Stating that everything is in the open and in the public domain, he said, “we have waited for such a long period of time 9 years and 7 months to be precise” and it is time for the government to implement without any further delay.

When asked about the review petition filed by the government, Patton said, the court has not accepted it, nor has it issued any stay order in this regard and that “the Court judgment is in force.”

Despite two meetings with the Department of School Education, it was informed that there has been no proposal from the government.

“As responsible teachers, we sincerely care about our students. We have never intended to be sitting here at this point of juncture. We are eager to go to our school and be in the midst of our students, but justice and our rights are being denied. We have no other choice to what rightfully is ours,” stated Patton.

He also informed that RMSA will continue with its indefinite sit-in protest until it receives a positive response from the government. He cautioned that they may even intensify to the point of a hunger strike.

Teachers from various district addressed the sit-in protest. One teacher asked the legislators “what would you do if we were your actual children?” and appealed to the government to honour the law of the land.

Extending its solidarity, members of the CTAN were present at the sit-in protest. CTAN Convenor Meshenlo Kath in his address termed the case of the RMSA 2016 teachers as genuine. Encouraging the teachers not to give up its fight for justice got what rightfully is theirs, he appealed to the government not to risk the future of the students and to give the teachers what is deservedly theirs.

Kath went on to say that the government would be responsible for the ‘collapse’ of the school education. 
Several uniformed personnel were stationed at the protest site. The sit-in protest will continue at 9 am tomorrow.