By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Aug 6: Bereft of pay, SSA lower and upper primary school teachers have now voiced their grievances through the Meghalaya Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan School Association (MSSASA), which on Tuesday submitted a representation to the State Project Director, Samagra Shiksha and Director of School Education and Literacy, Swapnil Tembe, bringing to his attention the non-release of their salary for the month of July.
MSSASA president Aristotle C Rymbai stated that the Education department had on July 25 sent a sanction order to all districts for release of July’s salary to SSA teachers, but it was withheld due to the ongoing agitation of the non-teaching staff of SSA.
Rymbai said the act of withholding the salary despite the Education department’s directive amounts to depriving the teachers of the “right to life and livelihood as guaranteed under Article 21 and right to property as guaranteed under Article 300A of the Constitution”. “This is not accepted at any cost and the association strongly condemns such illegal act,” he said.
The MSSASA president said that the non-teaching SSA staff have the constitutional right to protest. “But such protest must be balanced and cannot be a reason for not releasing SSA teachers’ salary because the SSA teachers have no alternative sources of income and solely depend on the salary for livelihood,” he said.
Rymbai mentioned that the SSA teachers are not obligated by the Association’s constitution to support any protests by the non-teaching staff, and mutual agreement is not a factor in this situation.
The MSSASA president stated that in the meeting on August 5, it was unanimously decided to firmly demand the prompt release of SSA teachers’ salaries. If this is not done, the non-teaching staff will be held responsible for any resulting incidents, he added.
