SSA teachers under depression as no salaries for 4 months

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaMarch 7, 2019

JOWAI: Irregular payment of salaries and uncertainty of jobs have put the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) teachers into depression and if this continues for another few months then it will be a humanitarian crisis and harm the quality of education in the state, said Meghalaya SSA School Association (MSSASA) President Aristotle C Rymbai.

Raising an alarm over the pathetic plights of the teachers, he lamented that due to various family issues, concerns and the uncertainty of the job and no money, SSA teachers have deprived of sleep, peace of mind and made them restless, especially at this point of time when parents (SSA teachers) have to pay for their kids’ admission fees, school fees.

In a press communique, Rymbai asserted about 95 percent of SSA teachers have no other means of income than the salary and unfortunately, it seems that these teachers are presumed to have other means of income as well, putting them into further trouble because no one believes that they are living a miserable life in the absence of their salaries.

The MSSASA President informed 12541 SSA Teachers teaching in 2907 Lower Primary Schools and 2232 Upper Primary Schools across the State of Meghalaya are working and performing their duties without Salary since November 2018 till date.

Rymbai appealed to the State Government to provide adequate budget from the State Budget for Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) in the next budget session of the state government so that these problems will not repeat in future.

Notably on February 20 Meghalaya SSA School Association (MSSASA) served a legal notice to the State Government for unconditional delay in releasing the arrears of SSA teachers’ salary since July 1, 2016 until February 28, 2017 of financial year 2016-17.