Shillong, Dec 16 (IANS): Thousands of teachers under the Centre's Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) mission in Meghalaya on Tuesday sent postcards to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank seeking their intervention in releasing their salaries, which have been pending for five months.

According to Meghalaya SSA School Association President Aristotle C. Rymbai, in all 12,541 elementary teachers were recruited under the SSA in 2,907 lower primary and 2,232 upper primary schools in Meghalaya.

He said that since August, the SSA teachers are not getting their salaries and that's why they have sent postcards to Prime Minister Modi and Education Minister Pokhriyal demanding their immediate intervention.

Meanwhile, Meghalaya Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui said that the Centre is yet to respond to the state government's request to release the required funds to pay the salaries of the SSA teachers. The minister said that no other state in the country has received funds from the Centre for the same purpose.

"We have in writing requested the Union Education Ministry to release the funds at the earliest. We are hopeful that the Union government would provide us the required funds to pay the salaries of SSA teachers before Christmas," Rymbui said.

The Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan -- an integrated scheme for school education -- was launched across the country as a centrally sponsored scheme (CSS) from the year 2018-19. This programme subsumes the three erstwhile CSS of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE). The programme for the school education sector extending from pre-school to Class XII aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education at all levels of school education. It envisages the 'school' as a continuum from pre-school, primary, upper primary, secondary to senior secondary levels.