Assam Teachers Protest for Salary Disbursement Clarity
Teachers Demand Restoration of Previous Salary System
Assam SRD teachers staging protests on Monday over salary credit row in Guwahati (Photo: AT)
Guwahati, Sept 7: The Assam State Primary Teachers' Association (ASPTA) has intensified its protests, demanding clarity regarding the government's commitment to address issues related to the salary payment system for teachers regularized under the Special Recruitment Drive (SRD).
A significant number of SRD teachers from various regions gathered outside the Directorate of School Education (Elementary) office in Kahilipara, expressing their dissatisfaction with the government's failure to revert to the previous salary disbursement system instead of the SNA-SPARSH module.
According to the association's president, Ratul Chandra Goswami, the renewed protests were prompted by the government's inability to fulfill an earlier promise made by Education Minister Ranoj Pegu.
“On August 11, Minister Ranoj Pegu assured us that starting in September, SRD teachers would receive their salaries through the previous system, but that has not occurred. This is why we have resumed our protests today,” he stated.
The teachers are seeking clarification from the department regarding the decision to include 15,029 SRD teachers in the new salary disbursement system, arguing that they had already been regularized and were previously receiving salaries through the old system.
Following the demonstration, a delegation from the association presented a memorandum to the Director of School Education (Elementary), Suranjana Senapati, requesting the reinstatement of the former payment mechanism.
Goswami mentioned that the delegation engaged in discussions with Senapati and other officials from the department.
“The officials assured us that they would take responsibility for resolving the issue at the departmental level,” he noted.
According to Goswami, the officials promised that the previous salary disbursement system would be reinstated and that the SNA-SPARSH mechanism would be discontinued for SRD teachers.
“The government's shift to a new disbursement model has led to numerous complications. We expressed our concerns and demanded an immediate halt to salary payments through the SNA model,” he added.
He further stated that the department had committed to addressing their demands and ensuring that salaries would be processed through the old system starting in October.
Senapati confirmed that SRD teachers are considered regular teachers within the elementary education department and that efforts are underway to restore the previous salary payment method.
“The Assam Education Minister has already communicated about the process and mentioned that there are some technical challenges in reverting to the old salary disbursement system,” she explained.
She also noted that Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Education Minister Ranoj Pegu had discussed the situation in Delhi, indicating that the new system would be phased out and the previous mechanism reinstated soon.
“The process is in progress, and technically, it will take some time to revert to the previous model,” Senapati added, emphasizing that the government's priority is to ensure all teachers receive their salaries on the first day of each month.
“The demands raised are already being processed,” she concluded.
After submitting the memorandum and receiving assurances from the Director, the teachers decided to suspend their protest. However, they insisted that their salaries for October be processed through the previous system.
On August 11, Pegu had announced that the government would discontinue salary payments to SRD teachers via SNA-SPARSH and would process their salaries similarly to other regular teachers.
The association later reported that there had been no corresponding updates in the salary records on FinAssam and urged the department to restore the previous payment mechanism.