SHILLONG, March 27: The state of the education sector in the state and the plight of teachers took centre stage in the Assembly on Monday with members shooting a volley of questions at the Treasury bench in an attempt to gauge the problems and their possible solutions.
The exchange between Education Minister Rakkam A. Sangma, assisted by Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma, and members of the House, brought to light the major ailments plaguing the education sector in the state, primarily among them being the huge backlog of vacancies in schools.
A query by Congress MLA from Gambegre, Saleng Sangma on the unfilled vacancies of school teachers, led to the disclosure that as many as 1,002 posts of teachers are lying vacant in government LP schools since the last two years.
The minister, while responding to the query, said that recruitment will take place after completion of all the processes. “The government has decided to hire teachers on a temporary basis since there is a delay in the recruitment of candidates who have passed MTET,” he added.
Raising the burning issue of delay in payment of salaries to the teachers, Congress legislator from Nongstoin, Gabriel Wahlang wanted to know if the state government has any intention to create a special fund to pay the salaries on time even if there is a delay in release of funds by the Centre. The minister responded saying that the matter is being examined and necessary steps will be taken.
When the MLA wanted to know if the government has any policy for “equal pay for equal work”, the Education minister replied in the negative, saying that Meghalaya has the most complex categories of teachers and bringing the teachers under a uniform pay structure would challenge the fragile financial health of the state. He assured to examine the matter when the state’s financial health improves.
When Wahlang pointed out that there has been no increase in the salary of the teachers for many years, the minister reminded that the government had enhanced the salary of all categories of teachers except SSA in 2022.
Joining in the discussion, Nongkrem MLA, Ardent Basaiawmoit wanted the government to announce a deadline for setting up of the State Education Commission. The minister, in his response, said that the search committee is already in the process and details would be made available within a month.
TMC legislator from Rajabala, Mizanur Rehman Kazi pointed out that the minister had replied that the problems would be solved when the financial health is ok and wanted to know when the financial position would improve.
Rakkam replied that it was a very tough challenge as Meghalaya is a low revenue generating state.
At this point, the Chief Minister intervened and said that it is very important to understand where the minister’s reply is coming from. “Approximately Rs 2,700 crore is budgeted this year for the education sector out of which Rs 2,200 crore is spent only on the salaries of the teacher. Hence, even to increase the salary by Rs 100 per month has an impact of hundreds of crores of rupees as we have 65,000 teachers,” the CM said.
He calculated the impact of a salary hike to be anything between Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 or 3,000 crore.
The CM, however, expressed hope that the education commission will help the state government to look into this aspect and chalk out a more practical way forward.
Mawlai MLA, Brightstarwell Marbaniang wanted to know why the government has not implemented the enhancement of gratitude for teachers of aided institutions since the pay revision in 2017 to which the CM said that it was for the deficit pattern only.
To a query from North Shillong MLA, Adelbert Nongrum on what steps were being taken to ensure regular salary for casual teachers engaged in government schools, the CM said that the question is related to the finance of the state and said he would reply on behalf of the minister.
He pointed out that ad hoc school were started by private managing committees and not the government and when they lack sufficient funds they approach the state government for grants.
“As many as 700 schools have applied for ad hoc grant and we have not been able to clear them. For government LP schools it is our duty to pay and we are paying on time. All the benefits are going to the teachers and hence this category is completely different from the ad hoc teachers,” he said.
Earlier in a written reply, the Education minister said that the Meghalaya State Education Policy was approved by the Cabinet on September 20, 2018 to ease the problem faced by the teachers. According to the policy, recruitment of teachers will be based purely on merit and only qualified and competent teachers will be appointed. The government will create conditions along constructive and creative lines to help motivate and inspire teachers, and service conditions and retirement benefits would be commensurate with their social and professional responsibilities.
As per the policy, appointment of teachers in government and government aided schools will be made on the basis of MTET at the elementary level while MPSC will recruit teachers for government secondary and higher secondary levels.
In addition, the minister said that the government will constitute the Education Commission which will have a functional structure consisting of core-members who are experts in the field, including reputed and experienced academician, an expert from management and educational planning. The fundamental objectives of the Education Commission shall be to, advise and recommends the government on matters relating to the school system, salary and school structure, school management functioning and accountability, produce concrete solutions and strategic recommendation for ushering reforms in the school system from the perspective of NEP 2020 and fulfilling its various principles and articulations.
