Shillong Nov 28: A new federation was formed by teachers teaching in adhoc schools in Meghalaya, and the body will raise several issues including the demand from the state government to implement the policy of equal pay for equal work and constitute a State Education Commission to look into problems related to education.

The new body is known as the Federation of All School Teachers of Meghalaya (FASTOM) which was formed at a meeting on September 14.

Veteran teacher, Kenneth Shadap who was elected as the President of FASTOM, told reporters on Thursday that the Federation has decided to raise many issues including the demand to extend pension and retirement benefits to all teachers in the state.

Shadap said that the objective of the federation is to fight for the welfare of teachers and demand from the state government for equal pay for equal work, medical reimbursement and pension/retirement benefits, welfare of the students besides examining and checking the syllabus and curriculum from time to time.

“We would also demand from the state government to constitute a State Education Commission for the benefit of all and the need to improve the school’s infrastructure,” he said.

Among other demands, FASTOM will pursue the demand that adhoc schools in the state right from lower primary, upper primary, secondary and higher secondary should be upgraded to deficit.

There are around 1,800 adhoc schools and 7,082 teachers in the whole state.

According to Shadap, the federation would also insist the government to provide in-service training for the untrained teachers.

When asked on the stand of the federation with regards to the decision of the government to do away with schools having single digit enrolment of students, the FASTOM leader said it is the duty of the state government to identify especially the presence of ghost schools and ensure justice is done.

To another question on teachers who sub contract teaching to other people, Shadap said that the government should trace out such teachers and take action against them for the good of education.

On the existence of many categories of schools and teachers, Shadap admitted that this should be done away with, and the government should have thought of having only three categories of schools in the state – full-fledged government schools, government aided schools, and non-government schools.