Shillong, Sep 22: The latest indefinite sit-in of the Federation of All School Teachers of Meghalaya (FASTOM) to demand for the upgrade of all ad hoc schools to the deficit system got underway today at Malki Ground here.
The sit-in was preceded by a march by hundreds of teachers that began and concluded at Malki Ground.
Speaking to reporters, FASTOM vice-president Sanborn Jungai said that a majority of these schools are run by missionaries, local communities and private individuals.
Jungai said that many of these are set up in rural areas to provide education to village children and do not charge fees. What nominal fees are charged go towards office expenses or to fund additional teacher salaries.
“At the end of the day we understand that a majority of the school managing committees depend on the grant-in-aid given by the government,” Jungai said, adding that the problem of these teachers can be fulfilled only with the political will of the government. “If the government has the will, financial constraint is not the problem.”
He pointed out that the state government is willing to bail out the autonomous district councils and offer to pay their salaries and there should therefore be no problem in bringing the ad hoc schools into the deficit system, where teachers earn more than those in ad hoc schools even if they do the same work. There are around 8,000 teachers in Meghalaya in the ad hoc system at present from lower primary to higher secondary levels.
The federation has been demanding better pay and benefits for adhoc teachers, including upgrade to the deficit system, 5 per cent annual increment and extension of retirement age from 60 to 65 years.
The current salaries of adhoc teachers range from Rs 18,000 for lower primary, Rs 22,000 upper primary, Rs 29,000 secondary, Rs 31,000 science teachers to Rs 33,000 in higher secondary education.
