SHILLONG: The Meghalaya College Teachers Association (MCTA) central body on Tuesday narrated the grievances faced by the teachers of St. Edmund’s College.
Addressing a press conference, the general secretary of MCTA, Amanda Basaiawmoit said the MCTA unit of St. Edmund’s College wanted the central body to meet the management of the college, however, the meeting with the management did not arrive at any conclusive solution. She said upon implementation of the pay-scale, it was discovered that the teachers were placed into the three scales without taking their years of service into consideration which means that senior and junior teachers were drawing the same amount of pay. In the process, it was found that the appointment letters/contract letters of ‘College Post Teachers’ (CPTs), especially after 2002, were non-uniform and highly inconsistent – probation period for teachers varied from one month for some, for others one year and for some there was no definite probation period mentioned in their appointment letters.
The contributions towards PF were arbitrary i.e. for some CPTs the deductions started from the first month of joining the College while for others the contributions started after one year, some two years and for some, after four years.
The rules governing the service conditions of CPTs in the College were not clearly defined i.e. appointment letters mentioned the simultaneous existence and application of UGC rules, State Norms, and CCBI regulations, varying sets of leave rules and others.
Basaiawmoit went on to state that the Service Rules for St. Edmund’s College (Regular Teachers) 2015″, which was passed by the governing body of the college on December, 2015 and notified by the Principal on September, 2016, after having been discussed and accepted by both the Management and the Teachers/Association, was unilaterally scrapped in December, 2018 and “Service Rules for Sponsoring Body Sanctioned Post, 2018” was enforced.
The teachers were against the arbitrary scrapping of Service Rules, 2015 and the forceful implementation of Service Rules, 2018 by the management and hence, rejected Service Rules, 2018 by a common letter through the Association.
With the management using delay tactics, she said the MCTA will continue against the injustice and oppression until the logical and rightful resolution to the problem is accomplished.
