Shillong, July 21: Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong on Thursday asked the agitating SSA teachers to return to their schools and assured to release four months of their pending salaries by next week.
He informed that the government will use Rs. 78 crore from its corpus fund and an additional amount of Rs. 44 crore to clear the pending salaries. He assured that the funds will be transferred to a single nodal agency before July 27, 2022.
Tynsong said the government understands the hardships faced by the teachers and coveyed the information regarding the release of the salaries to the SSA teachers.
On the enhancement of salaries, he urged the teachers to be patient. He said the enhancement of salaries issue will be taken up by the State Education Commission once it is set-up. He added that the draft policy of the Education Commission is ready for presentation as a Cabinet memorandum.
“The enhancement of salary shall be appropriately addressed by the Education 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 Dy CM stated that a system will be devised to ensure that the salaries are released on time and in any case the delay should not be beyond a quarter.
For the remaining one month salary, the Dy CM said the government will release it once it is released by the Centre.
Dy CM is also scheduled to soon go to Delhi along with other ministers to discuss the issues of SSA teachers, especially the salary component, with the Centre.
Meanwhile, a delegation of SSA teachers also met the Dy CM and officials from the Education Department. MSSASA President Aristotle Rymbai said the meeting was positive and shared the news of release of four months of pending salaries by next week.
The delegation also urged the government to ensure timely and regular release of their salaries.
On calling off the agitation, he said they will meet SSA teachers and take a collective decision on it.
