NSF, ENSF agitation on hold; to resume on October 19

Our Correspondents/ Reporter
Kohima/Dimapur/Mokokchung, Oct. 12 (EMN): The Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) and the Eastern Naga Students’ Federation (ENSF) have decided to keep its indefinite agitation in abeyance following the sudden demise of incumbent minister CM Chang on Monday.

However, the agitation will resume on October 19.

In protest against the state government’s inaction to mainstream the SSA and RMSA batches of 2010 and 2013 into state education cadre, the two federations had initiated a state-wide bandh on all ‘NL 10 and NL 11 registered vehicles’.

On Monday, student volunteers manned the streets across the state and seized ‘NL-10 and NL-11 registered vehicles’ found moving around. In Kohima, the seized vehicles were kept at Solidarity Park. The two federations had earlier informed that they would release the seized keys once their demand is met.

The protest started at 6 am on Monday and went peacefully; there was no report of confrontation in any part of the districts, informed an NSF leader.

A total of 37 vehicles ‘violating the bandh’ were seized from all over the state, it was informed.

“Officials of the two federations had a threadbare discussion on the developments of the day and unanimously decided to keep the agitation in abeyance considering the sudden and untimely demise of (Late) Eno. C M Chang, minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Justice and Law, \ as a mark of respect for the departed leader,” read a joint press release. The two federations have extended condolences to the bereaved family

They also directed the federating units and sub-ordinate bodies to put in place all necessary preparations in order to ensure that the next phase of agitation is carried out successfully.

Dimapur

Volunteers from 12 sub-ordinate bodies of the Dimapur Naga Students’ Union kept vigil at various check points in and around the commercial hub.

Speaking to Eastern Mirror, a member of the Diphupar Naga Students’ Union said that no government vehicle was seized under its jurisdiction throughout the day. He said that since the Nagaland State Transport (NST) buses were needed for ferrying passengers from the airport to Agri Expo site, they were exempted.

A member of the Dimapur Sumi Students’ Union (DSSU) at Clock Tower informed that one government vehicle was seized and kept at Tenyimi complex next to Hotel Tragopan along with other seized government vehicles.

The general secretary of the DNSU informed this newspaper that seven government vehicles were seized in Dimapur.

Mokokchung and Wokha

Government-registered vehicles remained off the road in Mokokchung town as student volunteers enforced the restriction jointly announced by the Naga Students’ Federation and the Eastern Naga Students’ Federation.

The enforcement in Mokokchung was spearheaded by the executive members of Ao Students’ Conference (AKM) as the office bearers are undergoing self-isolation and home quarantine after one of them was detected Covid-19 positive recently.

In Wokha, volunteers seized two government-registered vehicles.

Education department clarifies position

In response to the agitation initiated by the Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) and the Eastern Naga Students’ Federation (ENSF), the department of School Education issued a press release to give a “factual position so as to set the issue in the right perspective” and enable citizens to understand the problem in a more holistic manner.

Currently, there are 1990 government schools in the state, with total enrolment of 1,69,548 students, and 19,265 teachers, it informed.

“The teacher to student ratio is now one teacher for nine students (1:9), whereas the national average is one teacher for 32 students (1:32). The requirement of teachers in government schools are now about 9000, whereas the present total strength inclusive of SSA and RMSA teachers are coming to about 20,000 and this is now a huge burden to the state. It may please be noted that there are some schools with many teachers without any student and there are also schools where teachers are more than students,” it stated.

According to the department, the Cabinet had, on October 3, 2018, decided in principle to bring the teachers of the 2010 and 2013 batches of SSA and RMSA into the mainstream of School Education cadre with a condition that all the schools will be linked with bio-metric attendance and Aadhaar number of all teachers will be linked to the same.

“The Cabinet also directed the department to club/merge all neighbouring schools which are not performing, producing nil results or have negligible enrolment. The department was also directed to work out optimum number of teachers required as per enrolment. Further, the Cabinet directed the department to frame guidelines or find a feasible solution to give golden handshake to the teachers who are under qualified or untrained teachers. It may please be noted that the said Cabinet decision has given certain conditions and the department is in the process of fulfilling those conditions. However due to the Covid-19 pandemic and other constraints the process has been slowed down,” read the statement.

The department has already apprised the NSF and ENSF leaders of the status, it stated. The issue was also deliberated on various occasions involving the chief secretary and a request was made to the student leaders to withdraw the proposed agitation, it reminded.

“It may please be noted that these batches (2010 and 2013) of the SSA and RMSA teachers were recruited through respective district selection boards and it took the department considerable time to undertake massive exercise to cross check the records. Meanwhile comments of the P&AR, Department and Finance have since been received and the department of School Education is now in the process of submitting the issue to the Cabinet,” it informed.