Education Minister Rakkam A Sangma on Wednesday informed that the state government is waiting for the second installment to be released by the Centre for clearing the salary of the SSA teachers in the state.
Sangma informed that a meeting was today chaired by deputy chief minister Prestone Tynsong with a delegation of the Meghalaya Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Schools Association (MSSASA).
He said that the meeting has discussed at length certain issues flagged off by the association which include regular release of their salary and pending arrears.
Rakkam said that the delegation was informed that the government is on the job to address the issues.
He said the pending salary is only for two months as the government had already cleared the same up to the month of December, last year.
“We are waiting for the ministry concerned to release the second installment within the next 15 days,” he added.
According to him, the state government had done its job and now is waiting for ministry to release the necessary funds.
Earlier after the meeting, MSSASA president Aristotle C Rymbai informed that the association has requested the state government to put more budget provision in the state budget for the SSA during the current financial year 2023-24 to address the issue of irregular payment of salary to the teachers.
“Therefore, we feel it is the need of the hour for the government to put more budget provision for the SSA so that the same problem will not arise,” he added.
Rymbai informed that both the deputy chief minister and education minister had given positive assurance to the delegation.
“They told us that the government will work out and will put more budget provision in the state budget so that if the fund comes late from the central government, the state government will be in a position to at least pay the salary of SSA teachers for at least 3 months from the state budget,” he said.