AGARTALA, Aug 1 (TIWN): The SSA teachers have completed 1 year of their hunger strike which they held from August 1st to August 7 in 2017 during Left Govt's time. Today the teachers have gathered at Bishalgarh on that occasion, but till day their demand is only 'Regularization'. Many teachers of SSA including SSA-Association Secretary Bastab Debbarma became ill due to hunger strike for long 7 days left few of them with life time disease, but after 5 months of BJP-govt, the SSA teachers yet to be regularized. During SSA teachers hunger strike at Paradise Chowmuhani of Agartala on August month of 2017, Biplab Deb, Sunil Deodhar, Ratan Lal Nath visited and promised that after BJP comes in power according to the law the govt will do its full duty for the SSAs and following the guidelines the staffs will be regularized. A source said that a rough calculation was submitted in the Finance Dept which said, at least Rs. 230 crores will be needed to regularize the SSA teachers.

The SSA, RMSA teachers also played a vital role for BJP to win the election and now they are hoping for faster action by the state govt to regularize them.

According to the last notice of MHRD for SSAs, it's clear the SSA Teachers' jobs are totally under danger after the 31st March, 2018, which has naturally generated a tension among them. 

Tripura's former Education Minister Tapan Chakrbaorty who following a protest by SSA teachers had written a letter to MHRD Minister Prakash Yavedkar to regularize them and based on his letter, the notification on Nov 15 came. The letter was sent by Tapan Chakraborty aimed to dump the blames upon the central govt on 7th August, 2017.

 Following Tapan Chakraborty’s letter, it was asked to all states on 15th November to bring the SSA teachers under the state govt employees. But when the letter came, the Tripura govt moved 180 degree saying that they left with ‘No option’ and thus the SSAs will be terminated on 31st March, 2018.

In a letter to all the state govts on Nov 15, MHRD Joint Secretary Manish Garg told states, "The Dept has emphasizing to the states during the PAB meeting that the states should fill up the state vacancies first before filling up posts under SSAs. Teachers salaries, equivalent to vacant state cadre posts which was deducted in the past for Odisha Chattishgarh in 2014-2015. Accordingly it has been decided that the salaries of the teachers sanctioned under SSAs to the tune of teacher vacancies in the state sector will be shifted to state and will not be funded under SSAs".  

Now, with the Govt has changed, there are high chances that the SSAs will be regularized, but for that Tripura Govt needs Rs. 230 crores per year and also in the budget there is no mentioned about SSA's regularization fund.