Meghalaya SSA School Association urges teachers not to take part in agitation

SHILLONG, Sept 2: Two days after a group of SSA teachers announced to boycott the “Teacher’s Day Celebration” on September 5, the Meghalaya SSA School Association (MSSASA) Central Body came forward to appeal to the SSA teachers under its umbrella in particular and to all the 12,541 SSA Teachers in the State in general not to participate in any agitation activities while highlighting that the matter pertaining to unpaid salary has already been taken up with the State government.

“In the mean time, as teachers we should keep in mind that agitation is not always a solution to all our problems especially at this point of time when the Education Department and the State government working hard to solve the problems that we are facing due to changes in norms of the new Integrated Scheme Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan,” said the association’s president Aristotle C Rymbai.

Referring to the recent decision of the Ministry of Human Resources Development Govt of India to combined its three major Centrally Sponsored Schemes flagship programmes i.e SSA, RMSA and Teachers Education as one through the new Integrated Scheme for School Education known as Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan from 2018-19 onwards, in which the Ministry also made certain changes of its norms in the financial assistance and support to be funded by MHRD, DSE&L Government of India to State Government relates to Teachers Salary which had put the State Government not in position to pay the five months’ salary of SSA teachers for a period from April to August, the MSSASA General Secretary H. M. Marbaniang said, since March 2018, the association has been in touch with the Education Department and the State Government for discussion, suggesting and sharing of views and opinions from both ends.