MNF Comes to SSA Teachers' Rescue

Aizawl, Feb 6 : Following the Congress governments alleged move to sack nearly 2,000 teachers under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) mission in Mizoram, the Opposition Mizo National Front (MNF) has urged the government to show mercy to them.

''Whereas any government in a democracy is supposed to generate jobs for the unemployed youths, the Congress governments move to sack nearly 2,000 workers is really unfortunate,'' the MNF lamented in a statement today.

The move has come as a great shock to the teachers who have been depending on their jobs since the last seven to eight years.

''There could be indolent teachers among them. But it is the governments duty to check this. It is illogical to sack all the teachers on the same ground,'' the statement added.

Further, the MNF alleged that the Congress governments move to sack the teachers was clearly a result of its (the state government) inability to meet the states matching share of ten per cent of the Rs 8490.58 lakh during the 2009-2010 fiscal.

''As the state government could not meet its share, the Centre released only Rs 6617.75 lakh of the Rs 8490.58 lakh approved by the project approval board for the year 2009-2010,'' the MNF sources said.

Again, the PAB has approved Rs 8492.24 lakh and a supplementary budget of Rs 3,179 lakh following the implementation of Right to Education (RTE) in the state for the 2010-2011 financial year, the sources said. ''Of its ten per cent matching share, the state government has met only Rs 490.523 lakh,'' the statement further added.

Moreover, this Rs 490.523 lakh is still stuck in the state treasury and it is yet to reach the SSAs account.

With only two months left in the current financial year, the Congress government is unlikely to meet the remaining Rs 556.52 lakh of its matching share, it said.

According to the MNF sources, there are 1,962 teachers and about a hundred staff under the SSA mission and the total amount of their monthly salary is Rs 210.74 lakh.

The SSA teachers and other staffs have not received their salaries since October, the MNF said.

The Congress ministry, soon after it assumed office, sacked more than 1,200 education volunteers on the pretext that their term had expired and there were no funds to retain them. Contrary to this claim, the entire vacant posts were filled up with Congress members, the MNF alleged. Not only this, the Congress government also annulled the appointments of 600 Hindi teachers, appointed during the MNF ministry, it added.