Meghalaya: Agitating teachers protested for 24 hours in front of Secretariat Building to reinstate job

The Meghalaya Government Lower Primary Contractual Teachers’ Association (MGLPCTA) has been camping in front of the main Secretariat building, demanding the reinstating of their services has been called up by the State government for talks on Friday. 

Notably, the MGLPCTA has been agitating since September 7 at Civil Hospital junction, however, on October 6 the association decided to march towards the Secretariat along with their family members.

Following this, the state police tried to stop them from reaching the Secretariat but the crowd pushed through and kept on marching which resulted in a brief scuffle between the teachers and the police. The police lobbed three tear gas canisters to disperse the agitating teachers. 

The invitation from the education minister was communicated to the MGLPCTA by the East Khasi Hills deputy commissioner.

On Thursday afternoon after the tear gas incident, the teachers refused to meet the state government and asked the district magistrates on the ground to convey the message that “they are not ready to be fooled again and that they will only call off their agitation if the government issued an order for reinstatement.”

A magistrate told reporters that the Chief Secretary, DP Wahlang, had invited the agitating teachers for talks at 5 pm but they were not willing to meet the government.

 When asked why they turned down the government’s invitation, the president of MGLPCTA Birbor Riangtem said, “We have already met the chief minister seven times. He even chased us away from his room. Therefore, we don’t want to meet the government as they will only fool us so what is the point of having dialogue across the table? The chief minister had assured us to examine the matter but there has been no positive outcome even after two years have elapsed. This is doing injustice to us.”

 “We are also not willing to meet the education minister because he was the one who had closed all doors for us, he was the one chasing us to Assam and Delhi. Similarly, we are not willing to meet the chief secretary as he had also fooled us with his words. Our clear message to the government is if they want us to call off this agitation, they should come up with an order to reinstate our services as we want to go back to our schools, that’s all,” Riangtem stated.

 He, however, said there has been no communication from the government that they will come up with an alternative solution to resolve the issue.