Protest mars Teachers' Day celebrations in Meghalaya

Teachers' Day celebration in Meghalaya was marred by a mass rally attended by over 10,000 agitating teachers of government-aided schools demanding provincialisation of schools, kicking off the first phase of their statewide agitation.

Teachers in ad-hoc and deficit pattern government-aided schools, under the umbrella of Joint Action Committee of All Teachers' Associations of Meghalaya (JACATAM), have also announced a three-day strike from September 11 as their second phase of agitation demanding pay and benefits on par with government school teachers.

"We have decided to further our agitation and we will observe a three-day strike across the state beginning from September 11," JACATAM chairman E D Nongsiang said at the rally, adding that the state government was inflexible to their demands.

Over 4,000 schools under ad-hoc and deficit pattern in the state were virtually closed for the past four days with teachers taking to the streets affecting over 20,000 students.

Among other issues demanded by the government-aided school teachers were provincialisation of their services, implementation of education policy, equal pay for equal work.

Meanwhile, the state level Teachers' Day celebration was held at U Soso Tham auditorium where Education Minister R C Laloo distributed state and district awards to 30 teachers.

"My doors are always open to them (agitating teachers). I have no hesitation to meet any of them," Laloo said at the function. Reacting to the accusations levelled against him, he said, "I am dealing with highly intellectual persons of the state and I don't want to waste their precious time simply by just saying that their issues would be looked into but without delivering any action."

Laloo further emphasised that the state government was committed to address the shortcomings and will find out amicable solution to resolve the problems and grievances of teachers in the state.

PTI