4th teachers nudge govt to fulfill demands

From Our Correspondent
TURA, July 14: The All Meghalaya 4th Teachers’ Association, Garo Hills unit, on Friday once again reminded the state government to fulfill their long pending demands which included the regularisation of their services, salary enhancement and the release of annual increment of 5 per cent.
They said that their salary should be at par with their counterparts in the ad hoc upper primary school teachers.
The teachers sent a reminder of their earlier memorandum, to Chief Minister Conrad Sangma and Education Minister Rakkam A Sangma, where they had requested the regularisation of 1521 teachers under the category.
The salaries of assistant teachers in the state have been enhanced to Rs 20,493 since 2017 while the salary of the 4th teachers was a mere Rs 12,000. After the issue was raised with the government several times, their salaries were finally raised to Rs 18,000, they said.
However, the teachers felt that this was not enough and are requesting that they be paid at par with the others along with other incentives.
The teachers, while quoting the principle of ‘equal pay for equal work’ maintained that denial to their demand was a gross violation of Article 14 of the Constitution- Right to Equality.
Also pointing out that it is difficult to maintain their families with a limited salary of Rs 18,000 the teachers urged the government to take up the matter in the Cabinet for consideration in the interest of teachers under the category.