SSA knocks Delhi’s door for creating teachers post under Samagra Shiksha

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaMay 1, 2019

To,

The Secretary

Ministry of Human Resources Development

Department of School Education & Literacy

Government of India.

Subject: Prayer to direct the State of Meghalaya to mend the mistake and create all posts of teachers under Samagra Shiksha in State Education Department as per mandatory Samagra Shiksha and RTE norms.

Respected Ma’am/ Sir,

As Government of India has a clear cut norms under the erstwhile SSA and RMSA presently known as Samagra Shiksha wherein States/UTs are given financial support of salary of teachers with a condition, these posts of teachers shall be created in States/UTs Education Department on regular basis with same salary and service conditions as of State budget teachers.

That, in our State of Meghalaya it was found the state government committed a mistake and allowed creation of teacher posts under the “erstwhile Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan” in State Implementation Society known as State Education Mission Authority Meghalaya (SEMAM-SSA) on contractual basis instead of recruiting under Department of School Education & Literacy, Govt of Meghalaya on regular basis for whom different service arrangement have been spelt out and the 12,541 SSA teachers appointed as of date , was posted in 2,907 lower primary schools and 2,232 upper primary schools opened up under the erstwhile Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in the State of Meghalaya.

That, on 1^st January 2014 , MHRD, Under Secretary to the Govt of India, Shri Rajendra Prasad has issued clarification pertaining to SSA norms for interventions to all States / UTs Education Secretary and State Project Directors of SSA after approval from the Executive Committee of National SSA Mission chaired by Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister held on 5^th December, 2013. According to SSA norms vide para 8 sub para (i) it stated, “The State should maintain unified teaching cadres and no separate “SSA Cadre” is permissible as all teachers are ultimately to be borne on the States/UTs Government.

That, as per norms it is clearly mentioned all Schools receiving SSA funding are schools of the State Government and so are the teachers. SSA is only a programme providing additional funding to the State for elementary education development and reform but in our State of Meghalaya, the State Government have not taken any steps to correct the mistake done long time back since day one of implementation the SSA Flagship Programme which is a violation of the instructions of MHRD and Mandatory SSA-RTE Norms.

That, similar mistake was also committed by our neighbour state Assam which the Secretary Project Approval Board (PAB) cum Secretary MHRD in the 196^th meeting of PAB of Assam held on 18^th March 2013 pointed out the mistake and asked the State (Assam) to appoint teachers under SSA posts in State Education Department not under State Implementation Society.

That, a representation on the agenda have submitted to the State Government through Minister I/c Education Department on 2^nd February, 2016 and the Teacher’s Union also met and submitted a representation to the Hon’ble Union Minister, MHRD, Govt of India, Shri Prakash Javadekar on 18^th November, 2016 on this regards.

That several reminder has been sent to reminds the State Government on the agenda and also discussed the matter during the meeting with the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Meghalaya, Hon’ble Minister Incharge Education Department and Director School Education & Literacy, Meghalaya cum State Project Director, SEMAM, but is unresolved as of date.

Therefore, we urge your kind intervention on the agenda and to take up the matter with the State of Meghalaya in the coming Project Approval Board (PAB) meeting 2019-20 to be held on 7^th May, 2019 as per PAB schedule for consider the Annual Work Plan & Budget (AWP&B) 2019-20 for Samagra Shiksha.

We look forward to your kind consideration on the agenda.

With Regards,

Truly yours,