Meghalaya teachers send letters en masse to PM demanding pending salaries

SHILLONG: Thousands of school teachers of Meghalaya on Tuesday sent postcards to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention in releasing their salaries under the Centre's Samagra Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) Mission, which are pending for five months.

An organisation of school teachers said that the postcard campaign was launched in protest against the alleged delay by the central government to release their pending salaries.

A total of 12,541 elementary teachers were recruited under the SSA in 2,907 lower primary and 2,232 upper primary schools across the state, Meghalaya SSA School Association president Aristotle C Rymbai said.

"We have sent postcards to the prime minister and to the Ministry of Education seeking payment of our salaries. We are demanding our rights which have been denied for the past 5 months," Rymbai said.

Lahkmen Rymbui, Education Minister of Christian- majority Meghalaya, expressed hope that the Centre would release funds for clearing the pending salaries of SSA teachers before the Christmas.

The state government has contacted the central government in this regard, he told reporters on Monday.

The minister said that the Centre's delay in releasing funds has also affected other activities of the SSA programme in the state.

In 2018, the government launched the SSA programme which incorporateed three schemes the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan and the Teacher Education.