SHILLONG, July 20: The Education Minister, Lahkmen Rymbui has warned the School Managing Committees of SSA schools which are shut after the public agitation to have the demands especially relating to the non-payment of 5 months salaries heard and fulfilled.
Lahkmen Rymbui also said that if the teachers or the Managing Committees do not pay heed to the directives of the Government, it might have to resort to other other stringent means and that may also mean that the Government might implement the act of no work, no pay or take away the grants given to the Managing Committees.
Speaking with media persons today the Wednesday of the week in his office, Rymbui said that the reason behind the failure in paying the salaries of the SSA teachers in the State is due to the fact that the Education Department of the Central Government has not released the funds yet to the State Government.
Rymbui said the Meghalaya Government is awaiting the 1st installment from the Central Government and once this has been received, the State Government wants to release as much as possible while assuring that once the funds have been received, the same will be promptly released to the School Managing Committees.
With regards to the delay from the Central Government’s side, Rymbui said the State Government had not say idle but instead has from time to time spoken with the concerning authorities of the Central Government to release the funds on time which also includes the salaries of the teachers. In this interaction with media persons, Rymbui informed that till now the process of talking with the Central Government is ongoing and besides that he also said that the Meghalaya Government has been able to provide all the necessary requirements which is the salaries of the teachers.
In the interaction with media persons, Rymbui also took the opportunity to urge the teachers to immediately call off their agitations by returning to their schools and at the same time also urged upon the Managing Committees to cooperate with the State Government at such a point of time as this.
He said that he had always clearly stated that the moment the funds are received process for releasing the same shall be done immediately and therefore he requested for the agitations to be suspended, and even though the Government is sympathetic to their plight yet it the power to do much about it is not in the hands of the State Government.
