Nagaland Teachers Demand State Budget Recognition Amid Salary Delays

The Nagaland Government Teachers' Association (NGTA) has launched a protest, demanding that their salaries be moved to the state's non-plan expenditure head. On Thursday, 2,293 members of the 2010 and 2013 teacher batches demonstrated outside the Directorate of School Education in a bid for salary recognition and timely payment.

The teachers, who were mainstreamed into the State Education Cadre in 2022, have been drawing their salaries under the Centrally Sponsored Schemes, leading to payment delays. The association stated they have consistently submitted representations to have their salaries included under the State's non-development expenditure head but have yet to receive concrete results.

According to the School Education Department, these teachers were initially appointed under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan CSS. They argue the teachers are now part of the State Cadre as per the Nagaland School Education Service Rules, and enjoy the benefits and pay scale of regular state employees. However, the Department stated that budgetary constraints limit their role in deciding the salary budget head.