SHILLONG: The Khasi Hills Deficit School Teachers Association (KJDSTA) and Garo Hills Deficit School Teachers and Employees Association (GHDSTEA) will wear black ribbons on Teacher’s Day to protest against the adamant attitude of the state government towards fulfilling their demands.
Speaking to reporters here on Sunday, president of KJDSTA, Babu Kular Khongjirem, said, “As a symbol of disappointment due to the adamant attitude of the government, this year during Teacher’s Day, we will wear black ribbons. This is the sorry state of affairs that all deficit teachers face.”
The two organisations have directed their members to wear black ribbons when they attend schools, functions in their respective places, be it in the headquarters or sub-divisions.
Khongjirem said that the organisations are peeved at the state government for only hiking the salary of the teachers whereas they are deprived of other benefits.
The organisations have demanded enhancement of Death-Cum Retirement Gratuity (DCRG) and said that the limit for deficit school teachers has been Rs 3.5lakh for the past 11 years.
He pointed out that the Meghalaya Fifth Pay Commission has fixed Rs 10 lakh as the limit for DCRG. In this connection, they have requested the government to raise limit for deficit school teachers to Rs 10 lakh to be at par with government employees as per the recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission.
He also said that one of the immediate demands of the organisations is release of the 2nd installment of arrears of revised pay before Teacher’s Day. He said the government should release another 25 per cent of the arrears (2nd Installment) before the Teachers Day 2019.
“It is apparent that the state government looks down on us, it ignores our plight in spite of reminders to it and to the chief minister,” Khongjirem said.
He said there are less than 3000 deficit teachers in the upper primary, secondary and higher secondary schools.
He said wearing black ribbons is a form of mild, peaceful and constitutional form of protest to express their angst.
