Shillong, May 6: The state government today met with deficit school and college teachers over the new 2026 Centralised Fund Scheme (CFS), which the latter have rejected as a poor substitute for the National Pension System.
However, the meeting between the parties was inconclusive even as the teachers walked out of the meeting.
Boswell Pala, president of the Khasi Jaintia Deficit Teachers’ Association (KJDSTA), said that they were happy with the invitation for talks by the government but were shocked that their counterparts from Garo Hills Deficit School Teachers and Employees Association and the Meghalaya College Non-teaching Employees Association have not been invited for the talks.
“If you have to listen to the concerns of the deficit teachers and employees, call all concerned,” Pala said.
He said that to come up with the CFS that is different and which does away with was assured through gazette notifications in 2023 is wrong.
The KJDSTA president said that the government is trying to portray the CFS as the best but the association is adamant that it has done its homework on the subject.
“Let us debate the scheme, let us show our objections but only with the government officials,” Pala said.
At today’s meeting the teachers were also against the presence of bank officials during the discussions. Education Department Commissioner and Secretary Vijay Mantri assured that only teachers and lecturers would be invited for the next round of meetings, which will be held in the next few days.
The teacher delegation also complained to the government about “arbitrary tampering” with the Board of Trustees, which was constituted in 2023 but which has been changed and reconstituted on three occasions since.
Pala said that in the next meeting with the government they hoped to press home the point that what the teachers are asking for is legal and logical. “Do not substitute what we were supposed to get and come up with a totally different scheme,” he added.
