STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: The Assam State Primary Teachers’ Association (ASPTA) has decided to suspend its proposed indefinite sit-in protest after the School Education Department agreed to withdraw the SNA-SPARSH module for salary disbursement to teachers appointed through the special recruitment process.
The decision followed a meeting between the Education Minister and representatives of the association on Monday, held in response to an invitation from the School Education Department through Letter No. E-827879/3.
During the meeting, the Education Minister announced that the SNA-SPARSH-based salary payment system introduced for the concerned teachers would be discontinued and that arrangements would be made to ensure that they continued to receive their salaries through the earlier system.
The teachers’ body had strongly opposed the decision to bring regularised teachers—many of whom had already given up 11 years of annual increments before being regularised—under a salary payment mechanism applicable to contractual teachers.
The association alleged that salaries had also been credited to teachers’ accounts late on August 10 without their knowledge and amid confusion over the process. Teachers who received their salaries subsequently submitted complaints to their respective education officers and local police stations.
At the meeting, ASPTA representatives raised concerns over discrepancies in salary disbursement and possible complications in the service books of the teachers. The association urged the authorities to ensure that no regular teacher was treated as a contractual employee in any official record or process. The Education Minister, in the presence of the School Education Department Secretary and the Director of Elementary Education, directed the concerned authorities to take necessary steps to rectify the discrepancies. He also assured the teachers that there was no reason to fear that regular teachers would be brought under the contractual category.
The School Education Department Secretary stated that the published government notification would not be disregarded and requested the teachers to allow the department some time to complete the process of restoring salary payments through the regular system.
Following the meeting, ASPTA office-bearers held a special meeting and decided to suspend the three-hour daily sit-in protest scheduled to begin on August 12 until August 25.
The association said the decision was taken in view of the Education Minister’s assurance to withdraw the SNA-SPARSH-based salary system, stop changes in salary heads and salary-disbursing authorities, resolve irregularities in salary payments and issue necessary official instructions.
ASPTA president Batul Chandra Goswami, general secretary Shailendra Kalita, treasurer Samsher Ahmed, vice-president Mohan Haloi, deputy secretary Bijay Deka, assistant secretary Bikash Chubedi and All India member Dipandhar Konwar, along with several teachers appointed through the special recruitment process from Nagaon, Nalbari and other districts, attended the meeting. The association expressed gratitude to the specially recruited teachers for maintaining their trust and support during the movement.
ASPTA leaders, however, warned that if the government failed to honour its assurances, the agitation would be intensified.
Also read: ASPTA Accuses Education Minister Ranoj Pegu of Misleading Teachers on Salary Issue