Teacher’s salary row: More trouble in store as finances of school education dept go haywire
Srinagar: The situation ahead can be alarming for the School Education Department as it is caught in a tight situation while trying to meet out the salary of teachers recruited under erstwhile Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and RMSA scheme.
As of now the department is facing a shortfall of over Rs 1800 core in salary component of SSA and RMSA teachers in the new integrated scheme- Samagra Shiksha.
The crises is likely to hit the department in wake of the decision of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to merge all the central schemes in education sector.
Pertinently, the MHRD from 2018-19 financial year has decided to prepare a flagship programme Samagra Shiksha which subsumes all the three schemes-Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE).
As per the new allocation by MHRD as salary component, the department has already submitted their report that there will be shortfall of more than Rs 1800 core for salary as the government has approved implementation of 7th pay commission benefits for these teachers.
Following the merger of the schemes the union MHRD has curtailed the annual allocation of funds for various interventions included in these schemes.
The curtailment can be gauged from the fact that last year MHRD allocated Rs 1900 crore as salary component for SSA scheme while as this year the annual allocation for SSA, RMSA and TE is only Rs 1911 core for all the interventions to be taken under these schemes.
“The curtailment of funds will create a shortfall of Rs 1800 core for salary of SSA and RMSA teachers which will worsen the situation in the department,” an official said.
The official said the reason for merger of schemes is shortfall in budget allocation at central level in education sector saying that the budget allocation for education sector with the government of India was earlier reduced from Rs 43000 crore to Rs 23000 crore and this year it is not even Rs 15000 crore.
A top official said the salary of head teacher of a school recruited under SSA scheme has been reduced from Rs 34000 to Rs 30000 while as salary of 3rd teacher in SSA school has been reduced from Rs 30,100 to Rs 25000.
“But now the state has to manage the shortfall of its own as the state administration has announced the implementation of the benefits of 7th pay commission for these SSA teachers. The government is under tremendous pressure,” the official said.
He said the government convened several meetings back to back with finance department and are looking for ways and means to provide salary of SSA teachers as per 7th pay commission schedule.
“The teachers are without salaries from past 4 months, the release of salary has become a cumbersome task for the government,” he said.
Director School Education Kashmir (DSEK) G N Itoo said the government is seriously pursuing the issue.
“We are also waiting for the committee to present their report on basis of which the salary will be released,” Itoo said.
KV Correspondent
