TURA, March 6: With the state government continuing to draw flak for deciding to reimburse 95 per cent of the total income tax payable by the All India Service (AIS) officers serving in the state, the Meghalaya 4th Teacher Association has joined the chorus of protests and dissent, while questioning the government’s competence to increase the salary of the teachers.
In a statement on Saturday, the Association said, “The government says it is in ‘financial crisis’, yet it reimburses the income tax of All India Service officers who are already enjoying huge salaries. Meghalaya 4th Teachers Association expresses disappointment over the inability of the government to enhance the salaries of the teachers”.
Maintaining that there are over 1,500 4th teachers across Meghalaya, the Association bewailed that despite calling on Chief Minister Conrad Sangma and Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui several times seeking enhancement in the salaries, the meetings have yielded no positive outcome.
A Meghalaya-based 4th teacher receives a fixed salary of Rs 12,000 a month, an extremely low figure when compared to other teachers. Furthermore, the skyrocketing prices of goods and services have also made their lives more difficult.
Corroborating their statement with a graphical detail about the disparity in pay among teachers across Meghalaya, the Association maintained that while all Upper Primary SSA teachers enjoy a salary of Rs 20,493 per month, the 4th teachers have been receiving the same salary of Rs 12,000 since January 2017. It also said that the ad hoc upper primary school teachers under the state government receive Rs 16,000 as their salaries while the principals enjoy Rs 18,000 as their salaries.
“All upper primary teachers whether 4th teachers, SSA teachers, Ad hoc, deficit or government school teachers are teaching the same syllabus and are provided with the same workload. Therefore, we feel there should be equal pay for equal work,” stated the Association.
Giving vent to their discontent in the wake of the government’s decision to reimburse taxes on non-tribal AIS officers, “Without teachers, there would be no officers, engineers, doctors etc. Yet the government is not paying attention to the plight of the teachers, and is instead giving incentives to the officers who are already enjoying highest salary in the country. The rich are getting richer, while the poor are getting poorer.”
