Shillong Aug 18: The Meghalaya government has assured to release the four months pending salary of teachers teaching in Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) sponsored schools in the state.

The government’s assurance has also prompted the All Meghalaya Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan School Teachers Association (AMSSATA) to put on hold the proposed agitation.

There are 12,481 teachers in SSA schools in the state.

AMSSASTA president L Marngar told media persons in Shillong on Saturday that the decision to put on hold the agitation came after a meeting with Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma.

The association had earlier decided to hold sit-in-demonstrations in different districts of the state to demand from the state government to immediately release the pending salary of SSA teachers within August 20.

During the meeting, the Chief Minister requested the association not to go ahead with the agitation and assured that the government would try its best to release the pending salary within this month.

During a recent meeting with the State Project Director of SSA-SEMAM, Ambrose Ch Marak, he had also informed the delegation of the Association about the delay by the Project Approval Board (PAB) to take a decision on the matter.

Marngar said that the decision to reduce the salary of SSA upper primary school teachers from Rs 20,493 to Rs 20,000 and lower primary teachers from Rs 19,000 to 15,000 was also taken up during the meeting with the State Project Director.

The association has also decided to pursue the demand to ensure that SSA teachers get their salary every month since the delay to disburse the salary has affected the teachers.