The teachers would receive their salaries by next week in their bank accounts, deputy chief minister Prestone Tynsong said.

The Sarva Sikha Abhiyaan (SSA) school teachers have been protesting their salary for four or five months, and the Meghalayan administration on Thursday stated that it had agreed to provide Rs 122 crore for their payment.

At a meeting with their leaders, the deputy chief minister Prestone Tynsong said that the teachers will receive their pay by the next week in their bank accounts. He added that the remaining one month’s salary would be paid out as and when the Center disburses the funding. Since Monday, teachers have been demonstrating in Shillong about unpaid dues. For the past five months, more than 12,500 instructors have not received their paychecks.

According to Tynsong, “We have chosen to disburse Rs 122 crore as grants towards payment of four out of five months’ worth of pending salary of the teachers, teaching in Sarva Sikha Abhiyaan schools throughout the state.” Of this, the state government’s corpus fund releases Rs 78 crore. The Center would provide this funding, he said.

According to Lahkmen Rymbui, the education minister, the state government supplies the remaining 10% of each teacher’s monthly salary of Rs 15,000, with the centre providing 90%. After hearing the announcement, the agitated teachers calmed down.