President of the Khasi Jaintia Deficit School Teachers Association (KJDSTA), Babu Kular Khongjirem, today said that his members had no idea that Meghalaya had a fuel cess in place meant for the education sector.
The government has come in for criticism from various quarters of late over the Rs 31 per litre state tax on fuel, which is roughly one-third of the current cost of petrol in the state.
“We want the government to publicly clarify if this cess is meant for teachers’ salaries, development of infrastructure or purchase of textbooks” Khongjirem said.
Stating that the teachers in the state do not even receive their salaries on time and are deprived of many other rights, he said that the teachers want the Education Department to clarify how much the government is collecting in cess on a daily, monthly, and annual basis and how much it is spending on the education sector.
“If the cess is meant for the education sector then we urge the government to pay all the pending dues and rights of the teachers and to give their salaries on time. We also want to see that the Right to Education Act, to provide free and compulsory education to children up to the age of 14, is implemented in letter and spirit,” he added. “If the state wants quality education it should also give its top priority to the welfare of the teachers.”
The deficit school teachers are unhappy that Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has failed to respond to their request for a meeting to discuss various issues.
