SSA teachers write to HRD Minister on pay disparity

SHILLONG: The All Meghalaya SSA School Teachers’ Association has written to Union Minister Prakash Javadekar complaining about the disparity in salary of SSA teachers in the State.
“Our State Government under the Education Department tries to categorise the salary of the SSA teachers both for lower primary and upper primary schools,” the letter to the HRD Minister stated.
The teachers’ body said the Education Department categorises teachers as those who are Class XII pass, those with 45 percent marks in Class XII and those possessing D.El.EdlB.Ed as per NCTE Norms.
However, the recommendation of the Project Approval Board (2016-17), in which salary of lower primary teachers was increased to Rs 19,043 and that of upper primary teachers to Rs 20,493,      did not mention any categorization, the Association pointed out.
“For teachers who have fulfilled the RTE and NCIE norms, the salary hike for lower primary is from Rs 9,200 to Rs 19,044 and for upper primary it is Rs 9,900 to Rs 20,493. But other teachers who have not fulfilled these criteria, salary hike is from Rs 9,200 to Rs 13,335 for LP and from Rs 9,900 to Rs 14,392 for the UP,” the Association said.
The teachers’ body also expressed its dissatisfaction over the State’s inaction despite the protests and sit-in demonstrations and asked Javadekar to intervene. It sought to know where the State Government is spending the deducted amount of Rs 5,101 per teacher of the upper primary and Rs 5,709 per teacher of the lower primary.