Shillong, Feb 26: Lower primary school teachers, who were appointed on contractual basis for the past many years on Wednesday demanded from the state government to regularize their services.

Under the banner of the Meghalaya Government Lower Primary School Teachers’ Association (MGLPSTA), the aggrieved teachers said that majority of them are already overage.

The demand came a day after the announcement of the Meghalaya Teachers’ Eligibility Test (MTET) results.

The state government had decided to do away with the appointment of teachers on contractual basis.

Association’s vice president, Shining Kharsyntiew told reporters that approximately only 10 per cent of the over 1,200 contractual teachers passed the test.

“Most of us now are at the receiving end as majority will be terminated from our jobs thogh we have served for more than eight to nine years,” Kharsyntiew said, adding that it would be difficult for the teachers to find alternative source of livelihood as most of them have become overage.

“Therefore, we urge the state government especially the education minister to consider regularizing our services,” he said.

According to him, one of the reasons for the teachers’ inability to pass the test, may be, due to the examination being conducted after a long gap making it difficult for them to compete with young aspirants.

He said, the contract given by the education department was renewed every 59 days.

Justifying the demand for regularization, Ri Bhoi unit secretary, Paleilang Rani said, the teachers appointed on contractual basis have fulfilled all criteria including diploma for elementary education (D.El.Ed).

To another query, Kharsyntiew said, the issue of regularization was a long pending demand of the teachers and the government on many occasions had given verbal assurances to take necessary action, but to no avail.