TURA:
A delegation of teachers from Meghalaya Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) called on the new Education minister of the state Rakkam A Sangmain in Shillong, seeking timely disbursement of salaries and other benefits which are not being provided to them.
In their memorandum, they pointed out that hundreds of teachers who work under RMSA in Meghalaya do not get their monthly salaries on time.
“RMSA teachers have to wait sometimes for as long as 6 months to get paid for their work. To make it worse, the salaries are one of the lowest in the state with no enhancements or increments,” said Rikchi N Sangma, Secretary of Meghalaya RMSA Teachers Association from Garo Hills.
The Association has termed the irregular and underpaid salaries for RMSA teachers as nothing short of making the teachers as undervalued and unappreciative of the work that they do to raise the education bar in the state.
To make matters worse, the RMSA teachers do not get any employment benefits including medical allowances, gratuity and post retirement benefits that others in the profession avail of.
They are also bereft of social security schemes like Contributory Provident Fund which would help them in the long term, particularly after retirement.
The Association is seeking from the education department the benefits denied to the RMSA teachers for years altogether.