SHILLONG, Aug 4: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma was unclear about whether the government would reinstate the contractual teachers whose services were terminated in the first half of 2021.
President of the Meghalaya Government Lower Primary School Contractual Teachers’ Association (MGLPSCTA) Birbor Riangtem said this after a meeting with the Chief Minister here on Thursday, the fourth day of the contractual teacher’s sit-in demonstration outside the MBoSE office.
“The meeting with the CM was not fruitful as there was no commitment on our demands,” Riangtem told reporters.
He said the contractual teachers decided to continue with their agitation as they were not happy with the outcome of the meeting.
Riangtem said the decision of the Education Department to hold the MTET (Meghalaya Teacher Eligibility Test) was only to trap them.
“Most of us are in our 40s and it is extremely difficult to prepare for the MTET and fulfil our responsibility of teaching the students,” he said.
The problem, he added, cropped up because the state government did not implement the National Council for Teachers’ Education (NCTE) in 2010.
“The NPP-led MDA government decided to implement NCTE without trying to correct the discrepancies committed by the previous government,” Riangtem said.
He admitted that the government had appointed them to teach for 59 days.
“But we would like to know why the government asked us to continue to teach for 15 years instead of relieving us after the 59-day period. Therefore, the government is at fault,” the MGLPSCTA president said.
Earlier, Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui had ruled out taking back the 800 contractual teachers.
“The question of reinstatement does not arise because the process of recruitment has been completed in the first phase. Those who are qualified and got through will be appointed,” he had said.
The 800 contractual teachers were dismissed from government lower primary schools in January 2021. Some of them had been working under contract for more than a decade.
When they began work, it was not mandatory to have cleared the MTET but the state government brought in this requirement in 2020.
The minister said the appointment of the teachers was done on a temporary basis, hence their contractual tag.
