Meghalaya deficit school teachers to go on indefinite strike from Nov 11

Teachers and staff at deficit schools in Meghalaya's Khasi and Jaintia Hills will begin an indefinite strike on Wednesday, November 11, their association announced in Shillong on Monday, saying the state government has failed to clear salaries, dearness allowance (DA) arrears and long-promised service benefits.

The Khasi Jaintia Deficit School Teachers Association (KJDSTA) said the decision was adopted at its annual general meeting on November 7. Deficit schools are privately managed institutions whose teachers' salaries are paid by the state government.

Salaries late, DA promise missed

KJDSTA president Boswell Pala told reporters that, as of November 9, members had received no word on their salary for the month.

He said the Education Department had assured the association in a letter dated October 8, 2026, that DA enhancements of 51 per cent and 53 per cent, along with arrears, would be released before the Puja holidays. The holidays have ended and the money has not come, he said, and when teachers raised the matter on November 1, department officials appeared unsure how to proceed.

Pala accused the government of using repeated assurances and rounds of dialogue to delay and deny the teachers' dues, describing the pattern as "manipulation, lies and bluff".

The other demands

Beyond pay and DA, the association listed a set of pending structural issues:

• non-implementation of the Centralised Provident Fund (CPF) with a 10 per cent salary contribution, and of the National Pension System;
• non-implementation of the 2023 scheme and the revocation of the 2026 scheme;
• the Modified Assured Career Progression Scheme (MACPS), which remains unresolved.

The KJDSTA also said it was worried by what it called a move to bring a Special Provident Fund into deficit posts and to convert deficit posts into composite-grant posts, and alleged that some schools are not advertising vacant deficit posts.

Appeal to parents and students

Pala asked students, parents and school managements to bear with the teachers, saying the strike was being called "with deep pain" and not by choice. He said the agitation was also meant to keep deficit posts secure for future students and aspiring teachers.

Responding to critics of the strike, he asked what other option teachers had after being denied their dues for so long, and offered to explain the association's issues to anyone who wanted to understand them.

What happens next

Unless the government settles the dues before Wednesday, classes in deficit schools across the Khasi and Jaintia Hills could be disrupted. There was no immediate response from the Education Department in the reports.

The association had warned of a bigger agitation over DA and CPF dues late last month. The strike also comes days after the state notified its CM-IMPACT PLUS grant scheme, which merged existing salary grants to private schools, except those under the deficit system, into a single pay framework.