SSA teachers term non-releasing of salary due to staff agitation ‘illegal’

SSA teachers under the banner of the Meghalaya Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Schools Association (MSSASA) on Tuesday slammed the non-teaching staff for withholding the release of their salary for the month of July just because of their ongoing indefinite sit-in-demonstration against the government’s delay to enhance their salary.

In a letter submitted to State Project Director, Samagra Shiksha & Director of School Education and Literacy Swapnil Tembe, MSSASA president Aristotle C Rymbai has warned while stating, “Therefore, at the emergency meeting of the association held on August 5, we unanimously and collectively taken a decision to strongly demand through your goodself the release of SSA teachers’ salary at the earliest possible failing to do so the non-teaching staff have to take all the responsibility if any unwanted incident happened.”

He said the education department on July 25, had sent a sanction order to all districts for release of July salary to SSA teachers.

“(However), it has come to our notice that our salary is withheld/detained by the non-teaching staffs of Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan because of their ongoing agitation,” Rymbai said while adding “The non-teaching staff of SSA act of withholding /detaining the salary of SSA teachers despite education department have already released the sanction order since July 25 is a deprivation of SSA teachers right to life and livelihood as guaranteed under Article 21 and right to property as guaranteed under Article 300A of the Constitution and which is not accepted at any cost and the association strongly condemn such illegal act.”

“The non-teaching staff of SSA have every right to protest as guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) and Article 19 (1)(b) of the Constitution but such protest must be balance and cannot be a reason for non-releasing/detaining SSA teachers’ salary because we SSA teachers have no alternative sources of income and solely dependent on our salary for our livelihood,” he stated further.

The SSA non-teaching staff have been staging their indefinite sit-in-demonstration for the past 7  days demanding the government to consider 80% salary enhancement and 5 percent annual increment.