SHILLONG, March 10: The All India Trinamool Congress on Thursday sought an end to the disparity in salary of the 4th teachers and the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan teachers with equal experience and qualifications in the state.
Raising a Zero Hour notice based on a report in The Shillong Times headlined “4th teachers resent pay disparity,” AITC leader from Mawphlang constituency, HM Shangpliang reminded the government of a memorandum submitted to it for bringing their salary on a par with that of the SSA colleagues who are assistant teachers.
He said the assistant teachers are being paid Rs 20,493 while the 4th teachers have been getting a meagre Rs 12,000 per month since January 1, 2017 despite sharing the same workload.
“Apparently, the 4th teachers have the qualification required by the National Council for Teacher Education,” Shangpliang said.
The AITC leader also reminded that the Directorate of School Education and Literacy had submitted a proposal worth Rs 7.30 crore for enhancement of grant-in-aid to 1,521 teachers of the 4th category in the UPS (SSA) in Meghalaya on May 24, 2029. A memorandum was accordingly prepared and submitted to the cabinet with a proposal to enhance the salary from Rs 12,000 to Rs 16,000.
“Therefore, to avoid a series of agitation programmes threatened by the 4th teachers and taking into consideration the high cost of living, it is justified that their existing salaries are enhanced,” he said.
Shangpliang said the cabinet failed to reach any decision after the enhancement proposal was brought to it for the second time.
He also recalled that the Directorate of School Education had on December 7 submitted a cabinet memorandum and even in 2018, this enhancement proposal was turned down.
He questioned the government for discriminating the 4th teachers from the SSA teachers of equal experience and qualifications. “Why is the council of ministers not in favour of the enhancement of the salary of the 4th teachers?” he asked. In reply, Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui said all the issues raised by the member are pertinent to the development of quality education in the state and would be taken up for active consideration on a priority basis.
He said 1,521 non-government ad hoc lower primary schools were upgraded to SSA upper primary schools in a phased manner through the years in order to bridge the elementary school accessibility gap in the state. But the SSA scheme has a mandate for approving three teachers per upper primary, whereas the state norm for teachers’ appointment at the upper primary level is four teachers per school (one headmaster and three assistant teachers).
Rymbui said since the state policy of four teachers per upper primary school is admissible, the 4th teacher concept was adopted in all the 1,521 upgraded SSA schools with SSA taking care of the expenditure for three teachers and the state government handling that of the 4th teacher.
Stating that the matter is of great concern to the department, he said the enhancement proposal has not fallen on deaf ears. But considering the complexities of different categories of school management, recruitment procedures and appointment policy of the School Managing Committee, the Education Department has taken up the matter for consideration after examining it intricately.
Rymbui said that the total expenditure on salary for the 4th teachers currently stands at Rs 21.90 crore per annum. Apart from the 4th teachers, the state government continues to support 2,190 deficit and deficit-pattern schools and 7,093 teachers and non-teaching staff for an expenditure of about Rs 418-crore for salary only.
He added that apart from the deficit system, there are 9,068 ad hoc schools and grant-in-aid schools with 24,448 teachers, whose salary component borne by the state government amounts to Rs 525.40-crore per annum.
“It is, therefore, apparent that the state government has made an immense contribution to the different categories of educational institutions and will continue to support in every which way possible. However, the financial constraint is a challenge for the state. In understanding the grievances, the government will take adequate steps to examine the enhancement of salary,” he said.
He sought the cooperation and support of all the members of the House for the development of education in Meghalaya.
