Teachers of Sohksar Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) Upper Primary School in Sohiong constituency, East Khasi Hills district have expressed concern over the “zero enrolment” in the school.
A teacher of the school said that the school had zero students this year after the managing committee created a “mess”.
A teacher of the school, Dominic Mawlong said that apart from zero enrolment they have even been deprived of their May 2025 salary.
Mawlong said that they are also yet to be informed of the reason for the delay in the salary.
He said that the teachers have informed the Education department of the zero enrolment in their school even as he added that they have urged the higher authorities to accommodate them in another school.
“Throughout we have been involved in imparting education to the children but now we are sitting idle,” Mawlong said.
He informed that there are three teachers in the school out of which one of them is a fourth teacher.
In SSA in Meghalaya, the “Fourth Teacher” refers to an additional teacher appointed in Upper Primary schools by the State government, beyond the three sanctioned under the central SSA scheme.
Unlike the other three SSA teachers where the central government funds 90 per cent and the state government 10 per cent, the fourth teacher is entirely a state-funded position.
Mawlong said that the relationship between the managing committee and the teachers has gone sour in recent times and therefore this could be the reason for their May salary not being disbursed till now.
Meanwhile, a committee constituted to inquire into the issue stated that there were conflicting stories surrounding the situation in the school.
As per the inquiry conducted on May 23, 2025, teachers claimed that the parents were informed by the Dorbar Shnong that the school will no longer be open for the academic year 2025.
However, Kording Kharthangmaw, the Sordar Shnong who is also the president of the School Managing Committee (SMC) denied this information.
The SMC secretary Donsing Basaiawmoit attributed the zero enrolment to “teachers’ negligence, irregular attendance and non-cooperation of the teachers with the Managing Committee”.
The teachers informed that there were 2-3 students when the school reopened who sought admission but later did not turn up and till date no Transfer Certificate was issued to any pupils.
The SMC president claimed that the teachers always held the keys of the school with themselves or kept them at the household of any of the students without his knowledge to which the teachers admitted.
When inquired about the number of SMC meetings held per year, it was informed that no such meeting was convened by the then secretary, Dominic Mawlong, who is also the Assistant Teacher despite being told by the President to hold such meetings.
In response, Mawlong informed that there was always a misunderstanding and non-cooperation whenever such meetings were held in the previous years.
The teachers stated that the president had asked for a donation of Rs 1500 each from all the three teachers in the year 2023 to the school which they willingly contributed. But in 2024 when the same was asked and the teachers were unwilling to donate stating that the president had not informed about the expenditure incurred from money donated in the previous year and neither had any plan/project that benefit the school from their contributions.
“Since, then there was always a dispute between the teachers and the School Managing Committee Members,” the inquiry committee were told.
After the SDSEO’s Shillong, inquiry made on April 4, 2025 deputing all the three teachers to assist in the Lower Primary Section of the same school till new students are enrolled, the teachers informed that they had joined the school but were not assigned any classes for them and just sat idle.
However, the SMC secretary, who is also a teacher in the LP Section (Deficit), said that only Mawlong had joined his duty but not the other two female teachers.
But this claim was countered when all the three teachers informed the committee that they had joined their duty and also submitted the joining report to one of the senior teachers of the LP section since the secretary was not present on that particular day.
Furthermore, few representatives from the parents and village were present and when asked to express their views on the matter they were of the view that the main cause of not enrolling their ward to the school was due to the presence of these teachers.
They claimed that these teachers are irregular and not punctual and were not performing their duty well and that their presence in the school will bring “nuisance” to the village as a whole.
All the SMC members present stated that they are unwilling to allow these teachers to continue teaching in the school and wanted them to be transferred and new recruits should be appointed in their place.
However, the inquiry committee informed those present that no new recruitments are allowed presently due to rationalization.
It may be mentioned that zero enrolment is a widespread problem in Meghalaya. Two hundred six schools reported zero enrollment, including 30 Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) schools. Additionally, 2,269 schools have single-digit enrollment, including 268 SSA schools with fewer than ten students. Among deficit and adhoc schools, 18 have zero enrollment, while 1,141 have single-digit enrollment. Even government-run schools are not immune, with 11 schools reporting zero enrollment and 132 having single-digit enrollment.
