Nagaland 2015 batch ad hoc teachers begin indefinite hunger strike, seek regularisation of 1,166 members

Kohima, Feb 12: A section of the 2015 batch of adhoc school teachers in Nagaland began an indefinite hunger strike on February 11, alleging delay by the state government in regularising their services.

The protest is part of an ongoing agitation led by the All Nagaland Adhoc Teachers Group (ANATG)-2015, which entered its seventh day. The teachers had been holding daily, low-key demonstrations at Naga Solidarity Park since February 4 before escalating the protest.

The group is demanding regularisation of 1,166 adhoc teachers appointed under the School Education Department between the late 1990s and 2012.

According to an official statement, a suitability test was conducted in May 2017 in line with Personnel and Administrative Reforms Office Memorandums issued in 2008 and 2016. The memorandums provided for regularisation after three years of continuous service, subject to clearing the test and cabinet approval. All 1,166 teachers who passed the test were recommended for regularisation, and a cabinet memorandum was submitted on October 26, 2017.

The process, however, was stalled following orders of the Gauhati High Court’s Kohima Bench in July 2017 and August 2018 restraining the government from regularising contract and adhoc employees. In August 2018, the state cabinet deferred the move pending resolution of the court matter, though it approved a doubling of the teachers’ fixed pay.

A High Powered Committee was constituted in 2022 to examine the issue and submitted its report the following year. In February 2024, the cabinet adopted a policy for the regularisation of contract and adhoc employees, followed by a resolution of the Assembly. 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 formed.

The School Education Department has forwarded details of 2,487 contract and adhoc employees to the Screening Committee, with verification and scrutiny of documents currently underway, the statement said.

Despite several meetings earlier this month between ANATG representatives, departmental officials, the Screening Committee and senior government functionaries, including the Chief Secretary, the protesting teachers alleged that no clear timeline has been provided for regularisation.

The district administration has permitted the agitation from 9 am to 4 pm outside the Capital Convention Centre below the Secretariat Junction. However, volunteers have put up temporary shelters behind the Civil Secretariat and said the hunger strike will continue until their demand is fulfilled.

ANATG leaders maintained that the 1,166 teachers had already cleared the required suitability test and completed the necessary formalities, asserting that their claim for regularisation is justified.