Tura, Dec 21: The SSA school teachers from Garo Hills under the banner All Garo hills SSA School Teachers’ Association (AGHSSASTA) threatens to stage a two days hunger strike on December 24th and 25th in front of the Chief Minister House, Tura if the Government fails to release their pending dues before Christmas.

The general secretary of AGHSSASTA, Benabith Ch Marak asserted “If our pending salaries are not cleared before Christmas, we the SSA Teachers of Meghalaya won’t get a chance to celebrate our Christmas this year- 2020 with our children in the family”.

In a press statement, the All Garo Hills SSA School Teachers’ Association (AGHSSASTA) expresses the deep resentment over the delay of pending salaries before Christmas.

“We aggrieved SSA teachers are not paid five months pending salaries i.e. from August 2020 till date, we the aggrieved SSA Teachers are quite unhappy with the adamant attitude of the Government of Meghalaya to clear the dues,” the release said.

Further, the president of AGHSSASTA, Labingstone G. Momin in a press statement said, “On 14th of August 2020 PAB of 2020-21 has already been sanctioned by the central Government to the state of Meghalaya. We are confirmed of the fact that the state has already received the PAB of 2020-21 installments. Therefore we cannot accept the press statement released by the state Education minister who claimed the non-released of the funds by the central Government”.

“We the AGHSSASTA- CB want the clarification of PAB-2020-21 installments from the state Government with evidence if the PAB installment is yet to receive in the State,” it added.

The president of AGHSSASTA in a statement issued said “If the State Government still does not bother to address the current grievances of SSA Teachers in the State at the earliest and cannot give the clear clarification concerning the receipt of funds of PAB-2020-21, we would be compelled to take the issues to the Central Government within a couple of days”.

The association through the press release reminded that ‘Chief Minister Conrad Sangma had often stated that the focus of the government was on quality education and asked how he expected quality education in the state without providing the salaries of the teachers.’

“Where is the promise made by the Chief Minister during the last election campaign in which he assured ‘Education would be the top and first priority among all other departments in the state’? If Education is the top priority of the MDA Government then why the SSA teachers of Meghalaya are facing this grave situation,” it said.

The association also questioned the stand taken by the state government which maintains that none of the states in the country had received the funds from the Centre.