'Unpaid for Five Months': Teachers in Meghalaya Demand Resignation of Edu Min

Salaries for the month of June, July, August, September, October, along with the current month has not been paid.

(Photo: The East Mojo)

The Meghalaya Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) Schools Association, a conglomeration of SSA teachers from all 11 districts of the state, has once again been compelled to take to the streets to demand for their pending salaries of nearly six months.

For the third time, the SSA teachers have been left in a situation where they haven’t been able to make ends meet. Salaries for the month of June, July, August, September, October, along with the current month has not been paid.

Tired and frustrated over the negligence of the state government, more than a thousand teachers from all the eleven districts of the state gathered on Tuesday, 9 November, and a march was carried out from Lum Jingthangbriew Jaiaw. The march ended at Students field, Jaiaw.

The SSA teachers were also supported by pressure groups like Hynniewtrep Integrated Territorial Organization and the Hynniewtrep Youth Council among many others.

The teachers aired their grievances at the gathering. They decided to file a petition in the Meghalaya High Court if the government fails to merge the 5,814 lower primary teachers and 6,727 upper primary teachers from the state implementation society to the state education department, as per the provision of RTE Act 2009 and SSA-RTE norms.

The teachers have also demanded Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma to remove the Meghalaya Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui from his portfolio.

The Education Department has claimed that the Centre has not yet released the first installment, due to which the state government has failed to arrange the payment of pending salaries.

(Published in an arrangement with East Mojo.)