7th Pay for teachers : CM seeks 3-4 months time
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, February 09 2021: Amid the series of agitation being staged by the Federation of Government College Teachers' Association (FEGOCTA), Chief Minister N Biren Singh has urged the teachers to give the Government 3-4 months time to implement the 7th UGC Pay and Regulations, 2018 .

The Chief Minister was responding to a call attention motion raised by Opposition MLA Surjakumar Okram during the Budget Session today.

Education Minister S Rajen had responded first stating that the 7th UGC Pay and Regulations, 2018 will be implemented for the Government teachers "as soon as possible" .

It may be noted that the Government college teachers have been staging a series of sit-ins denouncing Government's failure to implement the 7th UGC Pay and Regulations, 2018.Recently, FEGOCTA had threatened to boycott classes.

7th Pay for teachers : CM seeks 3-4 months time

Appealing the agitating teachers to cooperate with the Government and come to the negotiation table, Chief Minister N Biren Singh said efforts are on to implement the 7th Pay and the Government needs 3-4 months time as it is facing the unprecedented Covid pandemic.

He said implementation of the 7th Pay has been affected and delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The Government had held talks with the teachers and an agreement was reached on the issue.

Besides, the State Cabinet had also given approval to implement the 7th Pay.

Effecting the 7th Pay needs implementation of the UGC regulations.

However, the implementation process has been affected by the pandemic and as such it is taking time," he said.

When there is an agreement with the Government, the "sudden" launch of the protests and sit-ins by the teachers is beyond his understanding, said the Chief Minister.

Even as the Government is focused on containing Covid, the teachers should show their sense of responsibility, he said, inviting the teachers for talks with the Government and urging them to drop their protests.

The Government is willing to meet the teachers anytime, he added.

Raising the call attention motion, MLA Surjakumar had said that the FEGOCTA and the Government college teachers have been demanding implementation of the 7th Pay since 2018.As the State Cabinet had also given the approval, the 7th Pay may be implemented in the interest of the teachers and the students who may be affected by the protests, he said.

Responding to a supplementary question raised by MLA Surjakumar during the Question Hour, Education Minister S Rajen said that a State task force and a sub-task force have been constituted to successfully implement the National Education Policy.

There have been 3 sittings of the task forces discussing the feasibility of the NEP in the State.

120 posts of Pre-Primary teachers will be recruited to train children between the age of 3-6, he added.

On the opening of Integrated Teacher Education Programme (4 years BEd), the Education Minister informed the House that the said programme has been introduced already in five selected colleges in the first phase of the NEP 2020, 45 colleges of the State have been turned into multi-disciplinary colleges with the inclusion of various vocational courses, he said.

Meanwhile, FEGOCTA has said the Government college teachers are set to take mass casual leave on February 12 and 13 and boycott classes from February 17.Supporting FEGOCTA's demand, the teaching community of the Dhanamanjuri College of Teacher Education also staged a sit-in protest at the college campus today.

The teachers appealed to the Government to implement the 7th UGC Pay and Regulations, 2018 at the earliest.