Proposal for pay scale structure for 14,000 SSA teachers soon
Shillong, Aug 27: Over 3332 lower primary and upper primary SSA schools have have expressed willingness to hand over management to the state government even as the education department has decided to soon submit a proposal on pay scale structure for over 14000 SSA teachers in the state.
This was informed by the President of the Meghalaya SSA Schools Association (MSSASA) Aristotle C Rymbai after attending a meeting convened by the commissioner & secretary in-charge education Vijay Kumar Mantri on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Rymbai said the department has shared a detailed presentation on four key agendas, including the takeover of SSA schools owned by private individuals, pay scale for SSA teachers, rationalization of SSA and government schools, and cabinet memorandum for school management transfer.
“The department has received NOCs from 3332 out of 5131 SSA schools expressing their willingness to hand over management to the state government,” he informed.
“Of this, 3034 are community managed SSA schools and 298 are religious and private managed SSA schools,” Rymbai added.
In regards to the demand of the association, Rymbai said, “We are happy to hear from the commissioner & secretary that the proposal for a pay scale for SSA teachers is being prepared and will be sent to the finance department and cabinet for approval after the (upcoming) Assembly session.”
“The department has also shared a presentation regarding the cabinet memorandum of taking over those SSA schools, which have already submitted their willingness to handover the management from SSA to the government. This cabinet memorandum will be send to the cabinet after Assembly session,”he added.
Rymbai also informed that the department has started the process of rationalizing SSA and government schools, deploying teachers from single-digit enrollment schools to higher enrollment schools.
“Actually to some extent we are happy with the progress of work done by the department,” he said.
Rymbai informed that the association has raised concerns regarding the rationalization of schools operating in the same building or campus, particularly with regards to salary disbursement for SSA teachers.
The Commissioner & Secretary has assured that the present system of salary transfer will continue, and SSA teachers’ salaries will be transferred directly to their personal accounts, he said.
Rymbai said that the MSSASA is expecting to receive further updates on the pay scale structure after the 16th Finance Commission’s report is released, expected in the last week of October.
A meeting will be convened in October to discuss the report and share details on the pay scale structure, he added.
