SHILLONG, July 1: There is more trouble brewing in the horizon for the state government with the Meghalaya SSA Teachers’ Association announcing that they would hit the streets if their demands were not fulfilled.
“We will wait till the 15th of this month…if the government does not agree to our demand for pay hike we will resort to agitation,” said Aristotle Rymbai, president Meghalaya Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Schools Association president.
The state government had assured the SSA teachers that it was working towards fulfilling their demand but two years down the line, nothing has materialised, he said.
“It is not acceptable. We will wait till July 15 and if no decision is taken we will have no option but to protest,” he added.
Stating that the government was treating them as contractual employees under the SSA scheme, Rymbai said, “It seems like the government thought that once the scheme gets over our services will also get over. But according to the SSA guidelines the teachers should be appointment on a regular basis and the salary should also be at par with the regular teachers.”
“The guidelines clearly stated that even after the SSA scheme comes to an end the teachers should not suffer. The scheme is going to end but the teachers will remain and therefore the government should absorb the teachers into regular service. It is on this basis that the teachers have made their demands,” he said.
Rymbai recalled that when they had met Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui on March 2, 2022 after their agitation, he agreed that the SSA scheme had been wrongly implemented in Meghalaya, but prior to that the government had never mentioned that.
“He (Education minister) had also stated that the state government will find out ways and means to rectify the problems,” Rymbui added.
Apart from demanding a pay hike, the SSA teachers have also been protesting against pending salaries, regularisation of all SSA teachers and implementation of the pay scales according to the prescribed norms under the Right to Education Act.
