Agitating adhoc teachers of Nagaland to shift hunger strike venue

The All Nagaland Adhoc Teachers Group (ANATG)-2015 Batch on Thursday announced that it will shift the venue of its ongoing agitation and hunger strike to the Directorate of School Education (DoSE) here, intensifying its protest against the alleged delay in regularisation of jobs for 1,166 tutors like them. The decision was taken following the government's alleged failure to provide a concrete timeline or policy commitment on the long-pending issue of service regularisation, ANATG-2015 officials said. The group, which has been carrying out sustained protests since February 4, said the shift of the agitation site to the DoSE premises is aimed at directly engaging the department responsible for school education and teacher management, and to press for immediate administrative and policy intervention. The Group said the hunger strike, which began on Thursday as part of the agitation programme, will also be shifted to the Education Directorate from Saturday, marking an escalation of the democratic protest. The teachers' body reiterated its demand for immediate regularisation of 1,166 adhoc teachers appointed before 2015, stating that prolonged delays have caused severe professional, financial and social hardship to the affected teachers and their families. ANATG-2015 maintained that the issue is not merely an employment demand but a matter of justice, dignity and policy accountability, adding that repeated assurances without tangible outcomes have compelled the group to intensify its democratic agitation. The association appealed to the state government, particularly the School Education Department and the Directorate of School Education, to engage in meaningful dialogue and take urgent steps to resolve the issue amicably, warning that the agitation would continue to escalate if their demands remain unaddressed. The Department has clarified that following a representation in 2021 and an agitation in September-October 2022, the government constituted a High Powered Committee, which submitted its report in June 2023. In February 2024, the cabinet adopted a policy for regularisation of contract/ad-hoc employees, followed by a resolution of the 14th Nagaland Legislative Assembly in March 2024. A one-time regularisation policy was notified on March 16, 2024, applicable to employees appointed against sanctioned posts prior to June 6, 2016, and a Screening Committee was constituted in June 2024. The School Education Department has since forwarded details of 2,487 ad-hoc/contract employees to the Screening Committee, with verification and scrutiny of documents currently underway. The Directorate of School Education has requested them to put on hold any further recourse/hunger strike for better consultation, assuring them of taking up their issues at the earliest. However, the teachers are on strike, alleging lack of concrete timelines and decisions, despite the government assusance to fulfill their demand with the formation of the HPC following the similar agitation in 2022.