SHILLONG, July 14 - Meghalaya College Teachers� Association (MCTA) together with All India Federation of University and College Teachers Organisation have placed several demands before the State and Central Governments.
They want the budget for education sector be increased to six per cent of GDP by the Centre. They have also demanded that pension be given to all teachers.
The organisations also want the implementation of the 7th UGC pay revision in consultation with teachers� organisations. Moreover, they have also demanded the withdrawal of the proposed bodies such as Higher Education Financing Agency and Higher Education Empowerment Regulation Agency and instead strengthen UGC and AICTE.
Allowances of teachers in 19 deficit colleges in Meghalaya has been withdrawn from 1995 and the teachers claim this was done without passing any order by the State Government.
The funding for the deficit college teachers� salaries comes largely from the Central Government which provides 80 per cent of the funds, while the State Government bears the balance 20 per cent. However, teachers have claimed that the State Government has abdicated itself from its share by doing away with the allowances of the teachers.
They claimed that this decision of the State Government was done arbitrarily and there was no official order. �There was just Cabinet file notings of the decision and this was found through RTI,� a teacher who wished to remain anonymous told The Assam Tribune.
The matter has been taken to the Court. The teachers also said that deficit college teachers don�t get pension and all these are being taken up in the Court to get justice.
Apart from the deficit colleges there are ad-hoc colleges and colleges which get lumpsum grants from the Government. In all there are 56 colleges in Meghalaya which offer degree courses.
The teachers now under the banner of Meghalaya College Teachers� Association (MCTA) are demanding from the Government that it pays interest towards the education sector of the State.
Joining teachers from the rest of the country, MCTA held a march called �Justice Day� recently to create awareness about this important sector and also the plight of the teaching community.
They said that since Meghalaya�s Statehood in 1972, the different Governments have not been able to frame an education policy for the State.
The teachers also pointed out that in the higher education sector there is a regional imbalance and most of the institutions of higher education are in the State Capital thereby encouraging migration from rural areas.
�There is a push by the Government towards privatisation of education and making it into a commodity. This is visible in the setting of private universities and colleges that run as business houses,� MCTA president BH Buam said.
