SHILLONG: Over 12,000 teachers under the Centre’s Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) have not got salary for four months, besides eight months’ arrears for the financial year 2016-17.
Meghalaya SSA School Association (MSSASA) president, Aristotle C Rymbai, said, “Everybody knows that nobody goes into teaching to get rich but teachers don’t expect to be suffered and penalised for their chosen profession.”
The non-payment of salary for a period from April to July 2018 and arrears has put the SSA teachers into depression. The association said 12481 teachers of the state are suffering due to non-payment of salary.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the SSA teachers stated that the sufferings of these 12481 teachers is turning out to be a humanitarian crisis which needs immediate attention of the Government as it is never easy to survive in the contemporary times without daily bread, besides the the teachers have to make arrangements of taxi and bus fare to reach their respective schools.
“We have been running families without salary for the last four months and no immediate solution seems visible till date and it is not only an issue of 12481 SSA teachers but also a question of survival of thousands of people that comprise the families of these teachers. It’s the most delicate issue of education of scores of children and survival of elderly parents of these teachers,” Rymbai said.
The All Meghalaya SSA School Teachers Association (AMSSASTA) central body threatened to agitate if the state government does not release 4 months pending salary within August 20.
The decision was taken along with the general executive committee of the group held on Saturday. The two organisations met the State Project Director on Tuesday.
Rymbai said there are some teachers who have served more than 15 years to promote elementary education right from the grassroots level and its times for the state government to come out with it vision and some magnanimity in realising that it isn’t just about SSA teachers, their salaries, streamlining or acceptance but it is also a matter of the future generation which is suffering for no reason.
