Teachers’ body claims salary disbursement system illegal

TURA, Jan 20: The All Garo Hills Primary School Teachers Association (AGHPSTA), Dadenggre Zone has dispatched a complaint to Education Minister Rakkam A Sangma, seeking his intervention into what it called ‘illegal disbursement of salaries to school managing committees’ as is currently being done in the state.
In its letter to Sangma dated January 19, the association alleged that the current practice amounted to violation of established norms, financial exploitation, erosion of teacher autonomy and a violation of teachers’ rights.
The teachers, while demanding immediate action in the matter sought that a clear and unequivocal directive be issued to all Sub-Divisional School Education Officers (SDSEOs) to cease and desist from directing the disbursement of teachers’ salaries to SMC accounts, to reinforce the established norms and regulations that mandate the direct disbursement of salaries to individual teacher bank accounts and to provide a clear and accessible grievance redressal mechanisms for teachers to report such violations.