SHILLONG, March 10: Opposition All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) lambasted the state government on Thursday for failing to clear the pending salaries of SSA teachers and asked it to urgently look into their plight.
Raising a short duration discussion in the House, Mawsynram MLA, HM Shangpliang said the SSA teachers require attention and care and they should be honoured and shown more respect.
He said 12,541 SSA teachers – 5,814 in lower primary and 6,727 in upper primary schools – have been struggling for years but the government has not yet come to their rescue.
The AITC legislator said the teachers want the government to create posts so that they could be shifted from state implementation society to state education department according to the provision of RTE & SSA norms.
He pointed out that under the Meghalaya Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2011, the scales of pay and allowance, medical facilities, pension, provident fund and other benefits of the SSA teachers should be similar to regular teachers.
“The SSA teachers are deprived of all these entitlements and great injustice has been done to them. Immediate action for redressal of their rights should be taken by the government. They don’t get medical leave and they are also not provided with any medical assistance in times of maternity leave. Why is the government silent on it?” questioned Shangpliang.
He slammed the Finance department for not approving funds meant for the salary of SSA teachers and said they are on the streets due to such “careless” attitude. He suspected funds diversion and asked the government to come clean on this.
Mawlai MLA, PT Sawkmie said it was sad that the teachers’ demand for the release of pending salaries has not been met with. Nongthymmai MLA, Charles Pyngrope said if the MLAs are not paid their salaries for months together, there will be chaos and mayhem.
In his reply, Education Minister, Lahkmen Rymbui said the educational setup in Meghalaya is different compared to that of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh or Mizoram.
Assam has 65,907 schools of which 15,396 are SSA schools with 32,469 teachers. Similarly, Arunachal has 3,666 schools of which 939 are SSA schools with 6,594 teachers.
Rymbui said these SSA schools are managed and administered by the Education department of the respective states where teachers are recruited under the state recruitment policy.
However, he added, the SSA schools in Meghalaya are primarily managed by religious institutions, NGOs, private parties etc. Meghalaya has 14,694 schools of which 5,166 are SSA schools with 12,541 teachers.
The Minister said there has been no delay in the release of salaries when funds were received early from Government of India.
“But as funds release from Government of India up to the grassroots level is a lengthy process, a diligent procedure needs to be compiled to avoid discrepancy,” Rymbui said.
He said in order to make the payment of seven months’ salaries of the teachers, Rs 198.63 crore was released out of the total receipt of Rs 295.35 crore without much delay. He said another Rs 67.62 crore was spent on the implementation of other activities under recurring and non-recurring components.
He said the unspent balance of Rs 29.13 crore (recurring of Rs 12.67 crore and non-recurring of Rs 16.45 crore) is not sufficient to pay even one month’s salary of the teachers. The state requires Rs 29crore approximately to pay one month’s salary of teachers.
“The Education department and the Finance department are working hard to release at least two months’ salaries. The balance amount will be released whenever Government of India releases sufficient amount in the second installment. The Education department has completed the formalities and submitted all related documents to Government of India for release of funds,” Rymbui added.