SHILLONG: The Meghalaya Government on Thursday expressed its inability to increase the salaries of teachers in the State citing financial crunch.
Chief Minister Mukul Sangma informed a delegation of the Joint Action Committee of All Teachers’ Association of Meghalaya (JACATAM) on Thursday evening that in the preceding years, whenever it had been possible the government had increased the salaries of the teachers.
As far as this year was concerned, the Chief Minister gave JACATAM a complete background of the fiscal position of the State in view of the ‘unforeseen fall in the revenue realization because of the NGT ruling’.
A Government statement in this regard said that although the government would be willing to look at all their demands, it would not be in a position to increase the salaries because of the unforeseen fall in resources. The Chief Minister, however, assured the teachers that all other issues flagged by them would be looked into by the government.
The meeting revolved around the concern of the teachers in bringing about uniformity in the salary structure and the need to minimize the categories of schools as there were too many categories which created a lot of confusion.
Regarding the need to minimize the categories of schools, the Chief Minister informed the Association that the government had already directed the departments concerned to examine the possibilities on how they could attend to this matter.
He also admitted that it was difficult to make the Finance Commission understand the nature of different categories of schools.
The JACATAM also apprised the Chief Minister on various issues concerning the management of several categories of schools and issues concerning the syllabi.
The concerns of the parents to have access to quality and affordable education were also discussed during the meeting.
