Right to educate or agitate?

[dropcap]G[/dropcap]overnment Colleges across the State have remained empty as All Nagaland College Teachers Association (ANGCTA) have gone on mass casual leave from Thursday (August 23) in protest against non-payment of their pending arrears from their enhanced salaries. This had been approved by the 6th Pay Commission, for the period January 2006 to March 2010. The association had reportedly tried several avenues for negotiation with the State Government but failed in their endeavours. What exasperated the teachers was a Nagaland Legislative Assembly Cabinet decision that the arrears would be diverted towards general provident fund (GPF) after a wait of so many years. However, the department of higher education said that there has been no formal notification yet in this regard.The arrears pending with the Government amounts to a few crores of Rupees and have reportedly lost more than half of their market values, according to a senior lecturer. He lamented that they had not taken the matter to a court of law whereby the teachers could have got their arrears with interest. The State Government has cited the lack of enough funds in its coffers. The University Grants Commission (UGC) requires the State Government to first pay the college teachers the arrears from its treasury.. After this, the UGC’s 80% share to the deal would be reimbursed to the State Government. But to no avail. The teachers claim to have been very patient with the State Government. But this patience has financially affected the teachers adversely especially those posted in peripheral districts. So they also claim that the agitation is a “democratic and legal form of protest.” Hopefully, the powers that be will do the needful to alleviate the teachers’ monetary woes. However, the education department while bifurcated into school education and higher and technical education under different Legislators in charge, apparently seem to have some glaring shortcomings. Firstly, the school education is yet to get out of its shambles and onto an even keel. The massive back-door appointments plus bogus and proxy teachers has given the education sector a thorough drubbing. It is not the necessarily the present Minister in charge who is to blame. He has only taken over at a time when things were already in shambles since many years. One particular instance is the case of the GHSS, Chumukedima wherein the students have alleged that the school authority has been neglecting their responsibility and misusing their authority and not providing the right atmosphere for the students to pursue knowledge. This is untenable. The students have alleged that the mid-day meal is served only once a month and that too with sub-standard food and poorly cooked. Some of them have also witnessed large quantity of paddy being transported out from the school premises at the end of every month. These starling revelations, among shocking others including the school peon’s quarters being a den of liquor, were made during an interaction of the students with some parents, former Town Education Committee members and former Chief Advisor of Chumukedima Town Council (CTC) T. Shuya on August 21. Such unscrupulous malady has induced poor performance of students of Government schools in HSLCS and HSSLC examinations. Shuya has advocated that 50% of the education committee members be represented by indigenous local inhabitants. Chumukedima may not be the only institution with such maladies. But whatever be it the only hope is that now the proper authorities are in the picture and so hope to rectify the shortcomings in the larger interest of education as a whole.