Faced with the complete loss of their livelihoods and their jobs, contractual teachers in Garo Hills began an indefinite hunger strike at William Point, Hawakhana in Tura, today to seek a review of the decision of the state government to terminate them.
The teachers attempted to begin their protest yesterday at the PA Sangma Stadium but faced difficulties in getting permission.
According to the teachers, when they were recruited they had the requisite criteria for the job. However, the government decided on requiring clearance of the Meghalaya Teacher Eligibility Test (MTET), leaving many, who had been working for close to a decade, in a dilemma.
The government said that this was to improve the education scenario and to do away with contractual teachers. A last chance was provided to the contractual teachers to retain their services by passing the MTET. However, when the results of the exams were declared, the majority of the teachers had failed.
Fearing that they will be left with no livelihood options if they are axed, the teachers are now demanding that they be allowed to continue in their professions with multiple chances to clear the MTET.
“We demand a special MTET for us and we should be given multiple chances to clear the said exam as we continue in our services. We want the government, especially the Chief Minister, to look into our grievances and take necessary steps so that our future is secure,” said one of the teachers during the strike. “We suddenly face termination despite the fact that some of us have been teachers for over a decade. We have been teachers all our lives. We can’t think of an alternate route anymore as most of us are too old to become anything else.”
