Ad hoc school teachers in the State under the banner of Federation of All Meghalaya Ad hoc Secondary School Teachers’ Association (FAMASSTA) have decided to stop taking up other duties assigned by the government such as election duty, census duty, evaluation of answer scripts etc except the job of teaching in schools.
The reason why these teachers took such a decision is because the government has been silent on their demands for many years.
The annual general meeting of the FAMASSTA which was held yesterday at Garo Union Higher Secondary School here which was attended by members of the association from all districts of the State discussed the measures to be taken to make the government pay heed on their issues, especially in relation to the payment of their salary.
FAMASSTA president Bina Kharumnuid said that the salary they receive now is no longer according to the prevailing situation affected by inflation where food items and other commodities have become too expensive.
“We are teachers and at the same time parents at home who provide for the needs of our children,” Kharumnuid told media persons.
The meeting unanimously decided to give the government three months to look into their demands.
Meanwhile, FAMASSTA also expressed its dissatisfaction with Chief Minister Conrad Sangma’s failure to respond to its request for a meeting with him.
The leaders of the association want to meet with him face to face to discuss their problems.
Kharumnuid said that she was surprised with the busy schedule of the chief minister as he failed to spare time to meet the leaders of the association from time to time.
“We have informed his office at the secretariat that we wanted to meet him, but till date, no reply has been received by us,” she said, adding, “This shows that Conrad Sangma does not respect the teachers.”
Kharumnuid also said that the teachers now have doubts about the employees of the CM’s secretariat.
“Maybe they did not convey our request to the chief minister or maybe the chief minister does not want to meet us. We don’t know,” she said.
She also said that since its inception in 1998, FAMASSTA has never taken to the street to protest against the government.
