SHILLONG/TURA: The Khasi-Jaintia Deficit School Teachers’ Association (KJDSTA) will meet Education Minister Lakmen Rymbui and urge him to review the new salary for deficit teachers and look into the credentials of MBoSE school textbooks.
“Even though the Fifth Pay Commission has recommended implementation of pay revision for deficit teachers, it is still awaiting approval from the Cabinet,” said ED Nongsiang, the president of the association.
In this connection, the education department had already issued directions for preparation of proposal of financial implication of the new pay scale from 2017 to 2018.
Nongsiang further pointed out that the order to submit the proposals were issued to secondary and higher secondary schools, however, lower and upper primary schools are yet to receive the direction to prepare the proposals.
The association had also met Director of School Education and Literacy, who had assured them that the direction would be issued to all Sub-Divisional School Education Officers (SDSEOs) to direct schools to prepare the new pay scale.
Textbooks
Concerned over the rising price and poor content in school textbooks of the state board, the association has decided to seek the minister’s intervention in the matter.
The association feels that MBoSE should go for proof reading and cross check facts of every textbook before publishing them to avoid any misinformation which can mislead the students.
Commenting on the Education Policy, Nongsiang appreciated the department which is trying to work on the policy to place it at the public domain.
Meanwhile, teachers under the Meghalaya Upper Primary School Teachers Association (MUPSTA) in Garo Hills have urged Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma to look into their various grievances which were ignored by the previous government despite repeated demands.
In their letter to Sangma, the association said that apart from some enhancement made to their salary, nothing more has been done to improve the condition of teachers and the principle ‘equal pay for equal work’ has also not been kept.
“We have long been discriminated and our genuine request has been sharply turned down by the former government which has led us to be demoralised and frustrated,” the letter said.
The teachers among others sought that all government aided upper primary and adhoc lower primary school buildings should be upgraded and provided with new furniture.