Meghalaya Vocational Teachers Protest in Shillong, Seek Pay Revision and Job Security

CORRESPONDENT

SHILLONG: Members of the Meghalaya Vocational Education Trainers Union (MVETU) on Wednesday staged a peaceful sit-in demonstration near All Saints Cathedral at IGP Point in Shillong, pressing the State Government for a revised pay structure, job security and the removal of Vocational Training Partners (VTPs) from the State’s vocational education programme.

The union, which represents 321 vocational teachers and trainers across Meghalaya, has given the Government one month to consider their demands and call them for a meeting, failing which its members will sit together to decide their next course of action.

The demonstration was the union’s second protest over the demands, with the vocational teachers seeking Government intervention and an early meeting to discuss their grievances. MVETU president Aiban Suchiang said the union had earlier met Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma during an event involving Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) teachers, where he had assured them that a meeting would be arranged at his office.

“Last time we meet the Chief Minister during the event of SSA teachers, that time he assured to call us for a meeting at his office. but till now he haven’t got any response from his office, today protest is to remind him of calling us, we are waiting for call from the government,” Suchiang said.

Suchiang said the union was now giving the Government one month to respond to its concerns and initiate a dialogue. He said that if no meeting was convened within that period, the union would sit together to decide its next course of action. The union said the protest was intended to draw the Government’s attention to the long-pending grievances of vocational teachers and trainers engaged under the State’s vocational education programme.

The teachers have sought a revision of their existing remuneration structure, contending that their pay and service conditions require greater stability and parity. They have also demanded job security and called for the removal of VTPs from the vocational education system.

The union maintained that vocational teachers play an important role in delivering skill-based education to students across the State and sought greater institutional stability for those engaged in the programme.

Suchiang said the union was awaiting a formal response from the Government and hoped that the Chief Minister would intervene and convene a meeting at the earliest.

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