SHILLONG, Aug 3: As contractual teachers stage protest against the government decision to terminate their services, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Wednesday inviting them for a meeting at the state secretariat to discuss on their demand to reinstate them has come as a glimmer of hope.
“The chief minister has invited us for talks tomorrow (Thursday). We are hopeful that the talks would yield positive results and we will withdraw our agitation,” Meghalaya Government LP Contractual Teachers’ Association (MGLPSTA) president, Birbor Riangtem, said.
He added, “If the outcome of the meeting failed. We have no other option but to continue with our agitation till our demands are met. We are optimistic that the government will find a way out to resolve our genuine demand.”
The contractual teachers, who were initially staging a sit-in outside the Chief Minister’s bungalow on Monday, were asked to shift their protest venue to a location near the Meghalaya Board of School Education (MBoSE) office. The government had sacked a total of 800 contractual teachers after they failed to clear the Meghalaya Teacher Eligibility Test (MTET).
“We have been appointed in Lower Primary and Upper Primary schools from 2010 onwards to educate children. MTET was introduced in 2010, the examination was conducted only in 2019 and by that time we were over-aged and many of us were not qualified. We don’t want our children to drop out of schools,” Riangtem said.
Earlier in the day, Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui, however, had maintained that the dismissed teachers would not be reinstated, saying that the process of recruitment has already completed
“The question of reinstatement does not arise because the process of recruitment was not only started but completed in the first phase and it will continue so. Those that qualified and got through will get the appointment,” said Rymbui.
“They (contractual teachers) should understand that they were appointed on a temporary basis,” he added.
Talking about schools with no teachers in the state as pointed out by opposition Trinamool Congress (TMC), he said, “We cannot rule out that there are no schools without teachers. But we cannot go back on policy matters which have been decided in 2010. As I said, the process will continue with appointment through advertisement and qualified candidates will be appointed.”
Maintaining that all appointment have to follow the roster system in the state, Rymbui recalled the judgment of the High Court of Meghalaya telling the government to follow the roster system, “That is why the department is preparing the roster system. When (it is) ready, we will float the advertisement and persons can apply. Those qualified will be appointed in vacant place.” (With UNI inputs)
