Shillong, Sept 5: Along with the rest of the country, Teachers’ Day was celebrated on Wednesday while a section of teachers boycotted the celebration and organized a sit-in protest demanding the release of their pending five months salary and eight months arrears.

At a State Level Celebration organized at U Soso Tham Auditorium, Education Minister, Lahkmen Rymbui in his address to teachers and students, extended his greetings to the teaching fraternity on the occasion.

Stating that teachers are a source of inspiration and motivation who draw the path that a student needs to take, Rymbui said that with the increasing expectations, the responsibilities of teachers have increased manifold while it is a challenge also to comply with the various acts relating to education.

The Minister said that the government recognized the problems faced by teachers in the state and the government is working to solve the problems.

He expressed concern over the dearth of trained teachers and informed that the state government would tie up with the Central government on a mission to have cent per cent trained teachers in the state.

Rymbui also urged the teachers to take the opportunity to improve their skills on imparting education while adding that the government is also contemplating to have teachers’ exchange programmes on a national and international level.

Lamenting the fact that people looked upon government-run schools across the state as the last option for admissions, the Minister urged the teachers of government-run schools to work with dedication for better education so that the government schools are at par with the private institutions in the State.

On poor performance of government schools and poor enrollment of students in various schools in the state, the Minister warned that schools with single digit enrolment would have to be closed down.

He also reminded the parents, the locality and members of the society to join together and monitor such government schools for any anomalies in the system of imparting quality education to the children.

The Minister also warned teachers who failed in their duty especially those who did not stay at their place of posting.

The Minister further urged the agitating teachers to cooperate with the government as he informed that the state government was working with commitment to address all problems that the teachers are facing in the state.

Earlier, in his Key Note Address, Additional Secretary, Education, C P Gotmare, informed that the State government is serious about the issues faced by the teachers and its efforts to improve their social standards.

He said that there is a need to provide the teachers with the right tools and skills of teaching and teachers need to equip themselves to the challenges of modern methods of teaching that demand lifelong adaptable methods and techniques especially equipping themselves to new challenges of Information Technology.

On the occasion, the Minister presented the State Awards, District Awards and Special Awards to teachers from different districts of the state and also released the Mid Day Meal Handbook.

Performances like songs, dances and other cultural programmes by students of different schools marked the Teachers’ Day celebration.

The day was also observed in various districts of the state.