Shillong, Nov 9: In protest against the indifferent attitude of the State Government and to intensify their stir, the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) teachers of Meghalaya on Tuesday organised a ‘mass rally and mass gathering’ at Student’s Field in Jaiaw, Shillong.
Hundreds of SSA teachers from all the districts of the state took part in the mass rally as a mark of protest against the state government.
Meghalaya SSA School Association (MSSASA) President Aristotle C Rymbai urged the state government to meet their three demands within two weeks’ time, failing which the association will be compelled to file a case against the government in the Meghalaya High Court.
MSSASA President also criticized the Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui for his ‘irresponsible’ comments.
”If the Minister feels like he does not have the solution to the problems faced by the SSA teachers, the Minister should step down from his portfolio,” Rymbai said.
He further questioned and said “the fund for the SSA teachers is in the Central Government and if you’re confident enough that the central government will pay our salary, why not take a loan and then pay the loan with the money coming from the Central Government,” added Rymbai.
SSA teachers from East Garo Hills lamented the state government and said that most of the teachers are facing financial crisis as they have not received their five months salary.
One of the teachers sarcastically commented on the SOPs that are needed to be adhered to “Corona will not kill us, but hunger will”.
It may be mentioned that the demands of the association include the creation of posts and shifting of all existing SSA teachers from state implementation society to the education department as per the provision of the RTE Act, 2009; to implement salary structure and to enhance the salary of 12,541 SSA teachers and clear the pending 5 months of salary.
