SSA teachers expose CM’s ignorance on guidelines
'Where is Rs 104 cr parked by state government?'
Shillong, Nov 23 : The SSA teachers have contradicted the stand of Chief Minister Conrad Sangma that the state government has nothing to do with the regularisation of teachers.
Addressing a press conference, the president of Meghalaya SSA teachers’ Association, Aristotle Rymbai said that as per Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan guidelines paragraph 5, it is the duty of the government to appoint teachers while the Centre will provide only financial support.
As per para 4 of the guidelines, the teachers will be recruited as per the terms and conditions of the state government.
“The chief minister is trying to divert its responsibility to Centre. We request the chief minister that before making any statement, he should study the rules and guidelines. He should come up with facts and figures to substantiate his stand”, he added.
Regarding salary, Rymbai, while acknowledging the funding pattern of 90 per cent (Centre) and 10 per cent (state ), said the state government is yet to provide the state share for the last three years.
The centre has fixed salary of Rs 15,000 for lower primary school teachers and Rs 20,000 for upper primary school teachers while the additional amount is given by the state government.
With the additional amount, the salary of lower primary teachers is Rs 19,044, while that of upper primary school teachers is Rs 24,493.
Hence, for lower primary, the financial involvement will be Rs 28 crore annually and Rs 3 crore for upper primary.
However, Rymbai pointed out that the state has not released its share worth Rs 104 core for the last three years.
“The Centre recently released Rs 59 crore as salary for two months and if the state can release Rs 104 crore, pay for the remaining months will be cleared”, Rymbai said.
He also pointed out that as per the decision of the central cabinet committee, certain financial norms have changed to be effective for 5 years till 2026 and according to this, a lump sum grant is provided by the Centre while the additional amount will have to be released by the state government.
Rymbai also reminded Conrad Sangma that except Meghalaya ,all other Northeastern states paid the SSA teachers as they used state budget. Conrad has been maintaining that other Northeastern states had also not paid SSA teachers.
Concern over festivals
To a question, Rymbai said education is a priority but in reality, the government is interested in organising festivals.
