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Thursday, March 28, 2024

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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Contractual teachers face age barrier, want reinstated

Speaking to The Meghalayan, president of the association, Birbar Riangtem, said, “We demand that the government reinstate us. When the government recruited us, the eligibility criteria were 45 per cent marks and diploma in Elementary Education (EL.Ed). Age affects a person when it comes to competing for exams and we are unable to compete with the freshers.”

Staff Reporter

Shillong: 

Age stands in the way of members of Meghalaya Government Lower Primary Contractual Teachers Association (MGLPCTA) to compete in the Meghalaya Teachers Eligibility Test (MTET).

The teachers were removed in January 2021 and they have agitated four times so far.

Speaking to The Meghalayan, president of the association, Birbar Riangtem, said, “We demand that the government reinstate us. When the government recruited us, the eligibility criteria were 45 per cent marks and diploma in Elementary Education (EL.Ed). Age affects a person when it comes to competing for exams and we are unable to compete with the freshers.”

They were unhappy at the government’s sudden decision to remove them and replace them with MTET qualified teachers.

Riangtem claimed that teaching is crippled if one contractual teacher is removed considering that the teachers are burdened with varied courses to complete and that some government schools closed down following removal of contractual teachers.

He said that the contractual teachers are appointed against a vacant post and their salary is based on pay scale.

Asked, he said that the number of teachers reduced from 1200 to 800, as the rest of them passed the MTET while maintaining that some of the teachers have been teaching since 2005.

It may be mentioned that the minimum qualification to be eligible for appointment as a teacher in class I-VIII is to pass the TET as per the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) 2010 notification.

The association suggested that the government conduct special TET examinations where the ones who passed can be regularised while the ones who did not make it can be permitted to re-appear.

“We suggested to the government to conduct special examinations but not to remove us,” he said.

Most of the agitating teachers are from rural areas coming all the way from West Khasi Hills, Jaintia Hills, Garo Hills and remote places of East Khasi Hills. Riangtem said that he is from Langtongdai in West Khasi Hills which also borders Assam and East Garo Hills.

The enrolment in government schools is also quite high as most people cannot afford a private institution.

Another teacher teaching near a border school in Barato said, “I was asked to teach in a place which is about 5 hours walk. And now, I am removed.”

Asked about the infrastructure in the rural areas schools, the teachers said, that it is very poor.

Riangtem said that the literacy rate is dropping in the state as teachers are removed from their posts.

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