SHILLONG, April 3: The Federation of All School Teachers of Meghalaya (FASTOM) has decided to continue with their agitation until they get a written assurance from the government on enhancement of their salaries and 5% annual increment.
FASTOM spokesperson, Mayborn Lyngdoh on Sunday said they were informed by the Secretary of Education department, Ambrose C. Marak that the state government will not be able to upgrade the services of ad hoc teachers to the deficit pattern.
“After this meeting, we had submitted a proposal to enhance our salaries to Rs 18,000 per month and 5% annual increment. So far we are yet to receive any official communication from the government that it is considering our proposal. We will not stop agitating until we get a written commitment,” Lyngdoh said.
Earlier, the Meghalaya Upper Primary School Teachers Association (MUPSTA) and FASTOM had given the state government a deadline till May to enhance the salaries of ad hoc school teachers in the state.
President of MUPSTA and FASTOM, Kenneth Shadap had said they had decided to extend the deadline till May since the government was examining their demand.
“We will decide our next course of action in the first week of June if the government fails to enhance the salaries by the end of May. This is the last opportunity for the government. We are not going to call off our agitation once we begin it,” Shadap said.
Education Minister, Lahkmen Rymbui had recently ruled out upgrading teachers from the ad hoc to the deficit system. “The demand to upgrade the ad hoc category of teachers to the deficit system will never materialise since the state government does not have any such plan,” Rymbui had said.
But the government is preparing the modalities for enhancing the salaries of the ad hoc teachers, he had said.
He had hoped the teachers will appreciate the step taken by the government.