Manipur government school teachers end 10 days old pen-down strike

After nearly two weeks of strike by teacher of Government Higher Secondary Schools in Manipur, tacademic activities are likely to return to normalcy with the striking lecturers hinting at calling off the strike after a talk with top officials of the concerned department in Imphal on Thursday.
The academic activities in over 64 government higher secondary schools across the state has come to a halt after 603 lecturers, appointed in 2018 and approved to regularize by a Cabinet decision, continue their pen-down strike over pending salaries and confirmation of service.
The lecturers launched the strike under the aegis of Lecturers’ Association Manipur (LAM) beginning from July 21 last.
It was initially planned to end on July 26. However, the striking teachers extended the protest till August 2, citing they were neglected by the authorities with no response after a week of strike.
Today, the striking lecturers staged a mass sit-in protest at a community hall in Imphal’s Thangmeiband where the protesters expressed their strong disappointment over the government’s silence.
While alleging that despite their peaceful approach and the urgency of their demands, no concrete steps were taken on the part of the government, the lecturers even resolved to intensify their stir with greater force from August 2.
However, before taking a concrete decision on the matter, a delegation of the striking teachers held a talk with the higher authorities of the state education department on the latter’s invitation.
Talking to reporters after the talk, LAM secretary Irengbam Malemnganbi said that they would call-off the strike as there were “encouraging developments”.
She said that during the talk, the top officials informed them of the processes being initiated by the department to address the demands of the lecturers.
The department initiated processes for completion of all the formality for the long-pending regularization files, she said.
The officials further informed them that these files were ready for tabling in a meeting of the Governor-in-Council scheduled on August 2.
As the state is currently under President’s Rule, the Governor-in-Council is the highest decision making body for the state administration.
The LAM secretary hoped for a swift and favourable resolution on the part of the government while reiterating that in response to an appeal from the officials of the education department, they decided to call-off the strike with immediate effect.