Staff Reporter
SHILLONG:
The contractual teachers of the state under the Meghalaya Government Lower Primary School Contractual Teachers’ Association (MGLPSCTA) on October 7 called off their month-long agitation after the state government assured that they would be given a chance to sit for their Meghalaya Teachers Eligibility Test (MTET) without considering their age.
Earlier in the day, Education Minister, Lahkmen Rymbui, made it clear to the teachers during a meeting with them that regularisation of their jobs without clearing the MTET was out of the question. He had also informed that the government will allow the contractual teachers who cleared the MTET three-four months back but have crossed the age limit.
“So today I conveyed to them what the government can do is one-time condonation of age so that they can appear for the recruitment process,” Rymbui said.
Apart from that, Rymbui also clarified on why contractual teachers in Dadenggre subdivision were not terminated from their jobs, saying that the recruitment process has not begun.
Rymbui said that in 2019 when MTET was conducted all over the state including Dadenggre there was leakage of the question paper there.
“When we found that the leakage was confined only to Daddengre subdivision, the test for the other areas went on and results were declared and the MTET there was held afterwards,” Rymbui said.
The Education Minister informed that after the MTET in Dadenggre was held the department was supposed to issue advertisements but by then the autonomous district council elections was set to take place and the model code of conduct was declared.
Rymbui further pointed out that after the autonomous district council polls were over, preparation to conduct the recruitment process in Dadenggre began but then there was the by-election and finally the government advertised the post there.
“Subsequently the judgment of the High Court came to implement the roster system,” the Education Minister said.
It may be mentioned that some quarters had alleged that 149 contractual teachers in Dadenggre subdivision have not been removed from their jobs.
They pointed out that two separate instructions – one from the DSEL on March 9 and another by the SDSEO Dadenggre on March 12 – were issued for the extension of their appointment.