Shillong, April 9: The teachers of the deficit schools in Meghalaya have suspended the mass causal leave following an assurance from the government that it would release the revised pay for them.
On Wednesday, the teachers of the deficit schools across the state under the Khasi Jaintia Deficit School Teachers Association and the Garo Hills Deficit School Teachers and Employees Association announced a casual leave for three days, demanding extension of the recommendation of the Fourth Pay Commission on a par with other government employees.
After a meeting with education minister Ampareen Lyngdoh, the president of the KJDSTA, E.D. Nongsiang, said the teachers had decided to suspend the agitation after the government said it would release the revised pay scale as recommended by the Fourth Pay Commission.
The payment of the 40 per cent arrears will be made after the re-assembled budget session in June.
The government succumbed to the pressure of the teachers as their strike affected the evaluation of marksheets of Class X examinations held last month besides the functioning of several schools in the state.
Nongsiang said teachers who would evaluate marksheets have joined duty after the strike was called off.
The teachers said they had resorted to agitation after the government had made several assurances in the past that the deficit schoolteachers would also avail the facilities under the Fourth Pay Commission, but in vain.
Ampareen said the government had already earmarked Rs 183 crore for payment of the revised salary to the teachers, including 40 per cent arrears pending. “We are committed to address the various demands of the teachers at the earliest,” Ampareen said.
The deficit schools in Meghalaya are run by managing committees and charitable institutions, but the teachers avail the salary structure of the state government except pension and medical incentives.
Teachers’ strike ends
