Meghalaya govt earns ire of teachers

Shillong, June 3 (UNI) About 500 aspirants of the State Eligibility Test (SET) today launched an agitation to protest the alleged apathy of the state government in appointing teachers.

Official sources said the East Khasi Hills district administration had to impose Section 144 CrPC to prevent the entry of the agitators to the main secretariat.

About 3,000 candidates cleared the SET against the vacancy of 704 in various Lower Primary (LP) Schools in four districts of the state.

The candidates also formed an association under the banner 'Meghalaya Action Committee SET Passed 2006-07' to press for their demands.

Recently, Parliamentary Secretary in-charge of Elementary Education Ampareen Lyngdoh had said that fresh advertisements would be issued for the vacancies and everyone would be eligible to apply for the posts.

The teachers also demanded that the existing vacancies in LP schools be filled at the earliest as the validity of SET certificate was short (three years).

''We demand that only those candidates who have passed the SET be appointed as LP teachers,'' Chairman of the committee Dapborlang Lyngdoh asserted.

Earlier this year, the Meghalaya Progressive Alliance (MPA) government announced a pay hike for upper primary and secondary school teachers of the ad hoc grants-in-aid schools. The step was taken after a sustained agitation, carried out by school teachers for several years.

Mr Lyngdoh, after meeting the teachers' delegation, said the government would constitute a SET committee and by the first week of July, a decision would be taken with regard to the demand of the teachers.

UNI RRK DPM RL AS1744