Shillong, Sep 11: Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui has given Commissioner and Secretary Vijay Kumar Mantri his backing, stating that the civil servant is one of the hardworking and most accessible officers.
Rymbui was reacting to the demand of the opposition Voice of the People Party (VPP) to remove Mantri from his present assignment.
Mantri also received backing from the Meghalaya Schools Welfare Development Association (MSWDA).
Rymbui stated that Mantri understands and solves issues and has been a mediator for the government on several issues like salaries and social securities for the teaching community.
He also added that he met different organisations at different points of time culminating in the decision of the government to implement the Structured Pay Framework (SPF).
Rymbui stated that to say that Mandi does not listen to the grievances of the teachers is wrong. “As the head of the department he tried his best and we have seen that in spite of the challenges he could convince the government to take tough steps,” he added.
In a letter to the Chief Minister, the MSWDA, which is an association of school managing committees, said it does “not support or accept the demand for the removal of a senior and responsible officer merely on the basis of disagreements or dissatisfaction with certain government policies or decisions.”
The minister stated that in the SPF there is security and recognition because, earlier, among ad hoc teachers, one working for 30 years and another who was a recent hire were treated the same.
The MSWDA added to this that the existence of categories such as Science Grant, Fourth Teacher, SSA and Ad hoc Teachers, among others, “has resulted in a fragmented system in which teachers performing similar responsibilities receive different levels of financial support from the government.”
It thus welcomed moves to streamline the system and added that, in any case, Mantri cannot be held responsible as a civil servant for a government policy, which is the responsibility of ministers.
Rymbui stated that the teachers honoured the Chief Minister all over the state for this new framework.
“This shows that the government is trying to solve the issue and, secondly, while implementing this, we have made very clear that rationalisation is the way forward without affecting the position of the incumbent teachers,” he stated.
