Faced with a situation that is desperate to themselves as well as their families, SSA teachers under the banner of the All Garo Hills SSA School Teachers’ Association (AGHSSASTA) have threatened to go to New Delhi to demonstrate of the sorry situation they are in.
SSA teachers from the state have not been paid their dues for the past five months leading to them becoming a sorry lot. This comes despite several reminders to the state government, the chief minister, Conrad Sangma and even taking out a protest rally to seek their salaries that have been due since June this year.
In a release, the teachers lamented the lack of interest in their cause despite their contributions to education of children in the state.
“We submitted frequent reminders to the Chief Minister, Education Minister and very recently re-submitted our reminder petitions to the union Education Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan (MoE) during our rally on October 26 in Williamnagar without these bearing any fruit for our lot,” said president, L G Momin.
“We can no longer continue our duties on an empty stomach. As humans we need food in our stomach to fulfil our duties. There is no proper food and nutrition for our children and other family members for a peaceful life,” added Bunbunbirth Marak, publicity secretary.
Adding that it was no longer possible to continue in the manner in which they were being subjected to, the teachers announced that they were compelled to announce our second phase of democratic agitation at the venue of Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.
“This is being done in view of the union government not releasing funds for the state. We will be doing so in the first week of December if the union government does not release our salaries of 5 months by November 30,” added secretary, B Ch Marak.
The teachers asserted that they reject the irregularity of payments being made to them.
“The state government is releasing only one month’s salaries in 5-6 months. Does the centre only give one months’ salary to the state once every 5-6 months? Or is the state involved in misappropriation of funds meant for us. We are seeking a clarification from the state government in this regard,” added the AGHSSASTA president.
The teachers asked as to how long would they have to live with these unresolved grievance to even receive their meagre, disparate and inappropriate salaries when we our demand should be for the immediate regularization of our services as per RTE norms,” added B Ch Marak.
