SHILLONG:
Leaders of the Meghalaya Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Schools Association (MSSASA), on May 17, met Education Minister Rakkam A Sangma in Shillong to follow up on issues pertaining to the welfare of SSA teachers in the state.
During their meeting, they were told that the Government of India will release the first instalment for payment of salary of SSA teachers, for this financial year 2022-23, by the end of June or first week of July.
MSSASA also thanked the minister for fulfilling the long pending demand for depositing the salary if the teachers directly to their bank account.
“Last month, the state government implemented this policy and it will be effective from January this year,” MSSASA president Aristotle C Rymbai.
Rymbai also informed that the state government has arranged to pay the salary of SSA teachers for the month of March, from the corpus fund. “We were told that next week, the salary will be released,” he said, adding that the state has to shell out approximately to Rs 26-17 crore per month to pay the salary.
On demand for regularisation of services of SSA teachers and enhancement of salary, Rymbai said that the issue was also discussed where they were told that officials are in the process to address this issue and that very soon, the minister in charge will call a meeting to discuss the matter.
To a question on whether the government is up for the task amid financial constraints, he said, “Yes, the government has expressed difficulties in fulfilling this demand; but this is not a new problem; it has been there since SSA was implemented.”
According to him, in other states, the respective state governments appoint SSA teachers in existing schools but in Meghalaya, that is not the case. “We were informed that the government is under process to correct this mistake. The education minister has sought for our cooperation to resolve this problem,” Rymbai said.
Furthermore, the MSSASA also discussed the demand to allocate more budget provision in the state budget for SSA. “The minister told us that steps are taken to address this issue,” Rymbai added.