Unpaid for five months, thousand SSA teachers today took to the streets to air their grievances and demanded the removal of education minister, Lahkmen Rymbui.
The SSA teachers under the Meghalaya teachers The Meghalaya Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) Schools Association, a conglomeration of teachers from all 11 districts of the state have also decided to file petition in the Meghalaya High Court if the government fails to merge the 5,814 lower primary teachers and 6,727 upper primary teachers from the state implementation society to the state education department as per the provision of RTE Act 2009 and SSA-RTE norms.
The teachers marched from Lum Jingthangbriew Jaiaw and held a protest meeting at the Students field, Jaiaw with the support of pressure groups, the Hynñiewtrep Integrated Territorial Organization and the Hynñiewtrep Youth Council among many others.
The teachers lamented the lack of interest in their cause despite their contributions to education of children in the state.
Earlier, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma had said the salaries have remained pending as the central government has not released its share of the salaries.
Sangma said 90 per cent of the funds relating to the salaries of SSA teachers come from the central government, which has not been released so far.
