By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Aug 27: Nearly 65 per cent of the 5,131 SSA schools in Meghalaya have expressed their willingness to hand over the management of the schools to the state government.
Informing this here on Thursday after holding a marathon meeting with officials of the Education department, president of the Meghalaya SSA Schools Association (MSSASA) Aristotle C Rymbai informed that a total of 3,034 community managed SSA schools and 298 schools (a total of 3,332) managed by private individuals have agreed to the idea of handing over the management of their schools to the state government.
During the meeting, the teachers were informed that the state government is coming up with a pay scale for the SSA teachers and the proposal will be sent to the Finance Department and the State Cabinet for approval after the autumn session of the Assembly slated from September 8-12.
The details of the proposed pay scale was, however, not revealed to the teachers as the state government is awaiting a report from the 16th Finance Commission which is expected to be received by end of October.
Discussions were also held on the cabinet memo for taking over the management of the SSA schools which will also be forwarded to the Cabinet after the autumn session.
According to Rymbai, the issue of rationalisation of SSA and government schools was also discussed. He said in some districts, teachers working in schools with single-digit enrolment have been deployed to schools with higher enrolment.
The government also assured that the salary of the teachers working in ad hoc and upper primary schools located on the same premises will continue as it is and there will be no changes.
Meanwhile, the All Meghalaya SSA School Teachers’ Association (AMSSASTA) which has been on an agitation for almost a year now, demanding a 100 per cent hike in their salary, expressed dismay over the outcome of the meeting.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, general secretary of the association Wanpyndaphi Lapang said that they have been holding agitations in Malki for almost a year and though many rounds of talks were held, there were no visible actions.
“Right now only discussions are taking place on our demand for salary enhancement,” he said while adding that the Commissioner and Secretary of the Education Department has assured that the government will take some measures after the autumn session of the Assembly.