SHILLONG: The state-based teachers under the banner of SSA have alleged that they have been divested of their rights and benefits while also claiming that the government has not given an ear to their demands that have been made earlier.
A statement from Meghalaya SSA Schools Association, Central Body, on Thursday said that the 12,541 SSA teachers – 5,814 in lower primary and 6,727 in upper primary – have been working as contractual teachers in SSA-supported schools.
“The 12,541 SSA teachers working in SSA-supported schools in the state are recruited and appointed as contractual teachers since the beginning of implementation of the SSA Flagship Programme instead of being recruited as permanent ones, which is against the framework and guidelines of SSA,” the Association alleged.
Stating that states and union territories are given financial support of salary for teachers by the Union government, the Association said that the Centre has directed for creation of posts for SSA teachers with similar salary and service conditions equivalent to state budget teachers.
“But in our state, it is found that state government committed a mistake and allowed creation of teachers’ posts sanctioned under State Education Mission Authority Meghalaya (SEMAM) on contractual basis instead of recruiting in Department of School Education and Literacy on regular basis for whom different service arrangements have been spelt out and the 12,541 SSA teachers appointed were posted only in SSA-supported schools across the state,” the Association rued.
Stating that the SSA is not separate but aligned with RTE Act, the Association said, “Norms of SSA have became norms of RTE and norms of RTE became applicable to SSA including provisioning of teachers and RTE Act has the provision to create professional and permanent cadre teachers only.”
“Hence, state cannot create contractual posts of teachers but only regular posts under budget head of SSA in Education department,” it said.
Lamenting that irregular payment of salary to SSA teachers is another prevailing issue, the Association compared the conditions of the state-based SSA teachers to the likes of their Assam counterparts.
“Refer to our neighbouring states like Assam and Manipur. For the SSA teachers in Assam, working under Axom Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) on contractual basis, the Government of Assam has extended their retirement till the age of 60 years. Apart from this, the teachers working under the SSA will also get dearness allowance as part of the 7th Pay Commission and other benefits like medical re-imbursement benefits up to Rs 5 lakh annually for the teachers and their immediate dependent(s), casual leaves, earned leaves, maternity leaves and childcare leaves and entitlement to avail bank loan at par with other state government employees,” the SSA teachders said.
The Association alleged that the state-based SSA teachers, on the contrary, are not entitled to any leave or others benefit as enjoyed by a regular teacher except for a 15-day casual leave annually.