SHILLONG, APR 1:The Meghalaya cabinet has approved a long-pending provident fund scheme for employees of non-government schools and colleges that receive deficit grants from the state.
Informing this after chairing the meeting on Wednesday, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said, “(We have approved the) implementation of the Meghalaya Non-Government Schools and College Employees Centralized Provident Funds Scheme 2026.”
“As you are aware, there are a large number of non-government schools and colleges employees based on the relevant Act, certain contributions were being made but the government did not have a proper scheme to implement this particular contribution. Today, we have finalised that particular scheme and the cabinet has approved it. Once this scheme is approved, based on the scheme, the employees of non-government schools and colleges will be getting the benefits of the provident fund.”
He said the measure applies mainly to deficit teachers — staff in private schools and colleges funded partly by government grants, such as St Anthony’s College, St Edmund’s College, Shillong College and others.
“These colleges that were there which the government is giving the salary in terms of deficit grants,” Sangma said.
Contributions from those employees were being deducted under an Act inherited from Assam and adopted by Meghalaya, but no scheme existed to channel the funds back to them at retirement.
“The government at that point in time did not come up with a scheme on how this particular contribution will be then given to the employees of these colleges and schools when they retire. So, today what we did is we approved that scheme that this is how it will be given and that was something which was pending for a very long time and that is what we have done,” he added.
The chief minister said he did not have the exact number of beneficiaries on hand, but the scheme would now provide a formal structure for distributing accumulated contributions.
Asked about financial implications, he clarified: “No, the contributions have already been made so it is just a question of now distributing it to them and there has to be a structure and a scheme on the basis on which it will be distributed.”
By Our Reporter
