SHILLONG, March 5: As they push through Day-5 of their indefinite hunger strike, the demands of the protesting lower primary contractual teachers have apparently not been paid heed to by the government or even fallen on deaf ears.
The Opposition Congress, however, has asked the Meghalaya government to accommodate the teachers in any vacancies available in the state.
The teachers, under the banner of All Meghalaya Government LP School Contractual Teachers’ Association, are on an indefinite strike since last Monday on apprehensions that their services may be terminated on grounds that they did not qualify for the Meghalaya Teachers Eligibility Test (MTET).
Congress legislators, including HM Shangpliang, PT Sawkmie, George Lyngdoh and Mohendro Rapsang, on Friday visited the striking teachers at Malki Ground here and assured them of taking up their grievances aggressively with the government.
Speaking to media persons, HM Shangpliang asserted that the teachers have a lot of experience, while stressing on the need to accommodate them in any available vacancy throughout the state.
Terming it as a serious matter, Shangpliang said that the Opposition is going to aggressively raise this issue on the floor of the House.
The Opposition will demand for employment of the teachers on humanitarian grounds, he added.
While asking the government to analyse the vacant teachers’ posts across the state, the MLA slammed the state government on the matter saying, “Why they were employed for 10-15 years on contractual basis when the government knew for fact that they are contractual teachers.”
Asking the aggrieved teachers to approach the court on the matter, Shangpliang seemed miffed with the fact that nobody from the government has even visited ground zero to ascertain the teachers’ problems.
Admitting that the teachers failed to qualify for MTET, he, however, suggested that the government should look at the possibility of engaging them in an alternative way.
It is worth mentioning here that a notification issued by the Meghalaya government had mandated teachers to clear the MTET and the Association, consisting of teachers who failed the exams, had demanded the government to give them a second opportunity and to retain them – many of whom are in their mid-thirties and have been in the profession for over five years.
The Association had previously carried out rallies urging the government to listen to their demands.
