SHILLONG:
The members of Meghalaya Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan School Association (MSSASA) called off their indefinite sit-in after the government assured to release Rs 122 crore for payment of four months’ pending salary, on July 21.
“The state government has agreed to release our four months’ salary by July 27. Therefore, we have decided to call off our agitation for now. Today, we have got a written assurance unlike previous meetings,” said Aristotle Rymbai, the president of the association after the government’s decision. He, however, said that if the government fails to fulfill its promise, they will resume the agitation.
The decision to call off the sit-in was taken by the MSSASA during a general executive committee (GEC) meeting of the association soon after deputy Chief Minister announced the government’s decision post a meeting with a delegation of MSSASA on Thursday evening.
“I have communicated that the government will release the pending salary of four months out of five months next week and the remaining one month, will be released only when the state government receives fund from the Centre,” said Prestone Tynsong.
The deputy Chief Minister said that the government has handed over a written assurance in this regard to MSSASA and has stated that the state will release its share of 10 per cent, which amounts to Rs 44 crore, by the end of the day and will add Rs 78.0 crore from the corpus fund to pay off the pending four months’ salaries.
Tynsong also added that the government will replenish the corpus fund once it receives the first installment from the Centre and the Education department will send the proposal for it by tonight.
The deputy Chief Minister also informed that he and chief minister Conrad Sangma will also take up the issue of SSA teachers with the Centre in New Delhi tomorrow.
“We are going to Delhi tomorrow and will try our best to convince the Ministry of Finance to release the installment to the respective state governments quarterly. I am sure the Centre will also consider that,” Tynsong said.
The deputy Chief Minister also informed that the government is mulling over the constitution of a state education commission at the earliest. “The enhancement of salary shall be appropriately addressed by the commission for all categories of teachers and the term of reference will also include other pending issues pertaining to teachers,” he said.
To avoid the delay in payment of salaries in the future, the deputy chief minister stated that a system too will be devised to ensure that the salaries are released on time and in any case, the delay should not be beyond a quarter.
Nudging the school managing committees (SMCs) to also shoulder the responsibility as these schools are purely private, Tynsong said, “They (SMCs) also need to understand their responsibility. If you want to provide quality education, how can you expect the government alone to do it? Therefore, the concerned SMCs have to take responsibility, then only we will see a change in terms of education in the state,” he asserted.