Assam: Primary teachers stage sit-in across state, seek clarity on salary payment

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Assam State Primary Teachers’ Association (ASPTA) on Friday staged a one-hour sit-in protest at the offices of District Elementary Education Officers across the state, demanding clarification from the government over the recent decision to process the salaries of teachers appointed through a special recruitment drive (SRD) under the State Education Department and if it does not withdraw the proposed change, it will launch an indefinite sit-in protest from August 12.

ASPTA general secretary Ratul Chandra Goswami said contractual teachers had been appointed under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) Mission between 2012 and 2021. He said that, based on the Assam Gazette notification published on July 16, 2024, and a School Education Department communication dated August 9, 2024, the government had directed the creation of 30,545 posts for Lower Primary schools and 4,588 posts for Upper Primary schools, totalling 35,133 posts. An equal number of posts under the SSA Mission were to be abolished.

Following the directive, a SRD was launched through an advertisement issued on August 6, 2024, and appointment distribution began on September 2, 2024. The SRD continued into 2025.

According to the association, all teachers appointed through the process had formally resigned from the SSA and were duly relieved. They subsequently joined under the Directorate of Elementary Education (DEE) and, after obtaining permission from the Special Investigation Unit (SIU), received salaries from the State Treasury in the same manner as other regular teachers.

However, the association alleged that the situation changed following an order issued on July 31, 2026, directing that the salaries of SRD teachers be managed through the SNA-SPARSH module.

ASPTA termed the move “against the established policy.”

Goswami said that whether the Assam Gazette notification dated July 16, 2024, and the School Education Department’s communication dated August 9, 2024, could simply be rendered meaningless without formally cancelling the orders.

Goswami also questioned whether the appointment letters issued by the DEE and the SIU permissions granted to the teachers had become irrelevant, and whether the teachers would now be removed from the State Treasury-based salary system.

He further asked whether teachers who had already resigned from the SSA and had been formally relieved were being re-engaged under SSA, or whether their appointment letters issued by the DEE had been cancelled. If not, why the salary-payment mechanism mentioned in their appointment letters was being changed.

ASPTA also objected to the department’s description of the SNA-SPARSH arrangement as a temporary salary-payment mechanism. It questioned why teachers appointed directly by the School Education Department were being subjected to repeated changes without any clarity on their future salary arrangements.

Goswami also questioned why the School Education Department had allegedly failed to implement the earlier directive to abolish an equivalent number of SSA posts after creating 35,133 posts under the state system.

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