SSA body seeks benefits for teachers

SHILLONG: Aristotle C Rymbai, president of Meghalaya SSA School Association (MSSASA) has said in Meghalaya, the 12541 elementary teachers recruited under Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and teaching in 2907 Lower Primary schools and 2232 Upper Primary schools across the state are being deprived of their rights and benefits as notified in the RTE Act 2009.
In a statement issued on Sunday, he said the state government in the just concluded Budget Session put education as a top priority with the aims to improve quality of education, but those who are entrusted with the task of delivering the quality education, should also be taken care of.
“Time and again, SSA teachers are being forced to come out to streets in every four to five months due to irregular payment of salary”, he said.
Further, the 12541 teachers working in SSA supported schools in the state both in rural and urban areas are recruited and appointed as contractual teachers since the beginning of implementation of the SSA flagship programme instead of recruitment on a permanent basis which is against the framework and guidelines of Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, he added.
Rymbai pointed out that in Meghalaya it was found that state government committed a mistake since the beginning of implementation of SSA flagship programme and allowed creation of posts for SSA teachers under State Implementation Society known as State Education Mission Authority Meghalaya (SEMAM) on contractual basis instead of appointing under Department of School Education and Literacy (DSE&L) on a regular basis as per the norms of the Centre.