Shilllong, March 10: The Opposition in Meghalaya Assembly on Thursday lambasted the State Government over its inability to clear the pending salary of SSA teachers besides asking the Government to immediately look into the plight of the SSA teachers.
Raising a short duration discussion in the House, Mawsynram MLA, HM Shangpliang stated that the SSA teachers in the state required attention and care and they needed be honoured and shown more respect.
According to Mawsynram MLA, last few years, 5,814 Lower Primary teachers, 6,727 Upper Primary Teachers working under the SSA of the state have been struggling to air their grievances to the Government and the teachers are still awaiting redressal of their problems.
Stating that the SSA teachers want the State Government to create post to shift 12,541 existing SSA teachers from state implementation society to state education department in regular basis as per provision of RTE & SSA norms, he said that under Meghalaya Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules 2011, scales of pay and allowance, medical facilities, pension, PF and other benefits of the SSA teachers shall be that of regular teachers and at par for similar work and experience.
“SSA teachers are deprived of all these entitlements and great injustice has been done to them. The problems of SSA teachers should no longer be kept in abeyance. Immediate action in redressal of their rights should be taken by the government. The SSA teachers don’t get medical leave or provided any medical assistance in times of maternity leave. Why is government silent about it ?,” Shangpliang questioned .
Slamming the Finance department for not approving the funds meant for salary of SSA teachers, he said that due to this careless attitude of the finance department and the government, the SSA teachers are on the streets.
Suspecting that the funds meant for SSA teachers may have been diverted, he asked the Government to explain to the people where was this money and why was it not released to the education department
Participating in the short duration discussion, MLA PT Sawkmie said that it was sad to see the SSA teachers’ long pending demand for release of the salary had not seen the light of the day.
Nongthymmai MLA, Charles Pyngrope also said that if the MLAs were not paid the salary for months, there would be chaos and mayhem and hence the Government should understand the plight of the SSA teachers.
In his reply, Education Minister, Lahkmen Rymbui said that the educational setup in Meghalaya is different when compared to Assam, Arunachal Pradesh or Mizoram.
The State of Assam have 65907 Schools of which 15396 are SSA schools with 32469 teachers which are managed and administered by the Education Department of Assam.
He said that the same with Arunachal Pradesh which have 3666 Schools of which 939 are SSA schools with 6594 teachers which are managed and administered by the Education Department of Arunachal Pradesh while adding that whereas, the State of Meghalaya have 14694 schools of which 5166 are SSA schools with 12541 teachers.
According to the Minister, the SSA schools in these States are managed and administered by the State Education Department since inception and the teachers are recruited under the State Recruitment policy of the respective States including appointments. However, the case is diverse with Meghalaya, since the SSA schools are primarily managed by religious institutions, NGOs, Private parties, and Community based schools.
He maintained that there has been no delay in the release of salary whenever the fund flow from the Government of India is sanctioned, the Adhoc released by the Government of India was on 21st May 2021 and State Share released was on 24th June 2021, whereas the 1st Instalment was released on 9th November 2021 and State Share released on 24th November 2021 and finally the balance of the 1st Instalment was released on 22nd December 2021 and State Share released on 23rd December 2021.
“ However, the procedure of fund release from Government of India upto the grassroot level is a lengthy process and diligent procedure need to be complied to avoid discrepancy,” he said
He said that the payment of seven months teachers’ salary Rs. 19863.20 Lakh was released out of total receipt of fund of Rs. 29535.32 Lakh without much delay at every juncture whenever fund was released to the State Government and Rs. 6762.888 Lakh was spent for implementation of other activities under recurring and non-recurring components and an unspent balance of Rs. 2913.225 Lakh (Recurring of Rs.1267.257 and Non-Recurring of Rs.1645.97) lakh only which is not sufficient to pay even one month salary of teachers because Rs. 2900.00 Lakh approximately is required for payment of one month salary of teachers.
“The Education Department alongside the Finance Department are working hard to release the capping salary to meet at least 2(two) months of salary and would release the balance amount whenever the Government of India releases the sufficient amount in the 2nd Instalment. In this regard, the Education Department has completed all the formalities and submitted all related documents to the Government of India for an early release,” he added.