Pawan Sharma highlights issue of irregular salaries to SSA teachers

Centre to evolve mechanism to ensure regular release of salaries to SSA teachers

Jammu, July 12: Assuring to keep a check on proper utilization of funds being allocated under Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) to the State of J&K, the Union Government has assured that a mechanism should be evolved to ensure that teachers appointed under SSA should get regular salaries.

This assurance was given by Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development (HRD) Dr. Satpal Singh to Pawan Sharma, Member Monitoring Committee for Minorities Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development who brought this matter to the notice of the Minister in a recent meeting at New Delhi.

During meeting of the monitoring committee, Pawan Sharma submitted a memorandum to MoS HRD regarding demands of over 40,000 teachers appointed under SSA scheme.

In the memorandum, Sharma sought to draw attention of the Minister towards unending problems of SSA teachers who are backbone of education sector in the remotest and far-flung areas of Jammu and Kashmir State. In the memorandum Pawan Sharma mentioned that due to diversion of funds by the successive J&K governments, SSA teachers are not getting regular salaries in the State. He said Centre is regularly releasing its 90 percent share under this scheme but instead of releasing its 10 percent share the successive state governments have diverted Centre’s share resulting of untimely disbursement of salaries to the SSA teachers.

Mr Sharma informed Union Minister said that most of the schools in remotest and far-flung areas of J&K, SSA teachers are managing education sector and educational institutions are solely dependent on these teachers. He regretted that instead of appreciating services of teachers, the successive state governments have failed to ensure regular release of salaries of these teachers.

While responding to the memorandum given by Pawan Sharma, Union Minister assured that he will look in the matter and would evolve a mechanism to ensure that these teachers would get regular salaries.