Partial payment to Meghalaya SSA teachers by next week: Lahkmen Rymbui

“We got the update that Centre will be releasing only Rs 59 crore and we hope that by next week the process will be completed. With this amount two months salaries can be cleared,” said Rymbui.

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SHILLONG:

Giving some much-needed relief to the SSA teachers of Meghalaya, Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui on November 10 informed that the central government will release Rs 59 crore as part of the partial salary package for all the protesting teachers by next week.

“We got the update that Centre will be releasing only Rs 59 crore and we hope that by next week the process will be completed. With this amount two months salaries can be cleared,” said Rymbui.

The Minister, who is in Delhi to discuss the same with the Union Education Department, stated that the Meghalaya government is following up with the Centre to release the total amount of Rs 140 crore, which will help the state in clearing the pending salaries of the teachers covered under the SSA scheme.

Asked if this issue will ever come to an end, Rymbui said that the issue cannot be resolved till the government sanctions the entire amount. The Meghalaya Education Minister added that they need Rs 26 cr per month to pay the salaries of 12,541 SSA teachers in Meghalaya.

Meanwhile, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma also expressed concern over the pending salaries of the SSA teachers.

“SSA teachers have not been paid throughout the country for the last 5 months. CMs and education ministers from all the states in the country have been following up with the education department in Delhi over the pending salaries,” said Sangma.

Asserting that SSA is a central government scheme, the states cannot do much about it. “Roughly about 150 cr is due as salaries, so it is not possible for the state government to shell that money even in advance since it is a large amount,” added Sangma.

The chief minister further stated that the government is concerned and aware of the plight of the teachers, and the state in its capacity is pressing the Centre to release the funds at the earliest.

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