Nagaland School teachers threaten closure of schools

Kohima:The All Naga-land School Teachers Association has cautioned the Government that it ‘may be compelled to confront the concerned authority in the form of total closure of all Government schools across the state, if there is no early release of pending salaries for aggrieved Hindi tea-chers in Nagaland state without any further delay.
In a press release, ANSTA President Ponchulo Wanth and General Secretary P. Vashum stated that when the basic necessity of teachers is not meet, the question of survival of so called nation builders does not arise.
The association expressed concern at the lack of a ‘concrete solution’ regarding regular release of payment for teachers appointed under the Centra-lly Sponsored Sche-me (CSS) in Nagaland state and lamented that there has been no improvement in the system and that the ‘problem remains the same.’
The ANSTA informed that as per the requirement of the state government, ‘a good number’ of teachers have been appointed under the CSS. For example, it stated that 2730 teachers have been appointed under the Inclusive Education for Disabled at Secondary Stage (IEDSS) and 1379 Hindi teachers under the said schemes so far.
However, it lamented that due to irregular payment of salary, agita-tions and picketing of offices have cropped up frequently.
To stop this, the asso-ciation urged the Nagaland state government to take up the issue on a priority basis. ‘Salary is the only sustaining source of teachers for which if it is not paid on time, (UNI)