That about eight thousand ad-hoc teachers of Meghalaya literally had to rough up and sleep on the streets in front of the State Secretariat to raise the consciousness of not just the MDA Government but the civil society as well, speaks of a collapse of conscience among those governing the state and of the Education Department in particular. True this government has inherited the problem of payment of salaries to ad-hoc teachers from the past but the role of any government is not to blame the past but to address the problems here and now. All that the teachers are demanding is a hike in salaries from what they are getting at present to Rs 18,000 a month with 5% increment a year which is Rs barely Rs 900.
On Teachers Day, empty tributes are paid to teachers which are forgotten the very next day. Yet teachers are what build the minds of several generation of youth who now assume leadership positions in politics, academics, law, bureaucracy and many other professions. Their first introduction into the world of books and knowledge gathering was through their teachers. Yet these same students who now occupy important positions in government are unable to resolve this pernicious problem that has plagued the teachers of Meghalaya for many decades now. Initially the Primary Schools were managed by the District Councils which failed to pay their salaries. Teachers protested and later the administration of Primary Schools devolved to the State Government. Mr PA Sangma as Chief Minister had evolved a scheme of taxing a certain percentage from fuel and part of the royalty from limestone and coal and to put the amount as salaries for teachers. Many of the industries in Meghalaya could have been taxed a certain percentage to supplement the teachers’ salaries. In fact, the State Government has to use its wisdom and discretion to raise taxes on some luxury items and put that to good use by paying teachers better.
Rs 18,000 a month is just a small fraction, perhaps, one tenth of a bureaucrat’s take-home salary or that of a teacher in a University. Why should there be so much disparity in salaries between those that build minds and futures and those that now govern over them. It just shows that there is not much thinking in the government. Why should the cabinet break its head over naming streets and not over how to raise revenue for paying teachers. That the matter could not be solved over three cabinet meetings makes us wonder whether the ministers even had their thinking caps on at the time of deliberation. Meghalaya is truly at the crossroads and primary education is set to suffer a major blow.
