SHILLONG, June 26: The Voice of the People Party (VPP) has accused the state government of attempting to do away with the UGC scale of pay for teachers in deficit colleges.
A VPP delegation raised the issue with Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui on Friday.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, VPP MLA Brightstarwell Marbaniang said the UGC pay scale has been in existence since 1975, but the government has been trying to phase it out in recent years despite no formal decision being taken.
The party instead demanded that the UGC pay scale benefits be extended to both people’s colleges and government colleges.
VPP cautioned that any move to dilute or abolish the system would have serious repercussions for the future of higher education in the state.
The party urged the government to continue extending UGC pay scales to all eligible teachers appointed against sanctioned posts in deficit colleges, remove existing pay disparities, and immediately release all pending dearness allowance (DA) dues along with future revisions.
Meanwhile, VPP also expressed concern over the government’s failure to fill several sanctioned vacancies in deficit colleges and schools for the past 2-3 years.
“The government is sitting on this, and we fear it will affect the students and quality of education,” Marbaniang added.
