SHILLONG — The Meghalaya Cabinet has moved on two long-standing gaps in education and worker service conditions, approving a new school grant scheme while bringing three categories of casual workers under a common 60-year cessation age.
Under CM IMPACT+, around 1,900 Secondary and Higher Secondary Schools will become eligible for institutional grants. The move comes against a sharp shortage at the secondary level, with seven blocks in Meghalaya currently having no Secondary School.
The grants will not create sanctioned posts or provide individual salary support. Instead, eligible schools will receive lump-sum funding based on criteria being finalised by the Education Department. The scheme will be reviewed annually, with better-performing schools eligible for greater financial support.
The Cabinet also approved 60 years as the uniform cessation age for Regular Casual Workers, Casual Workers and Muster Roll Workers. The decision removes an unusual gap in the existing system, where different categories had different exit ages, including 58 years for RCWs and 65 years for some Muster Roll Workers.
The government said the change also recognises that these workers do not receive regular retirement benefits such as pensions. Cases involving workers already in the transition, including some Muster Roll Workers aged 63 or 64, will be examined individually.
In another decision, the Cabinet approved the one-time regularisation of 11 Lady Supervisors under the Social Welfare Department. The regularisation follows court proceedings and orders, including proceedings before the Supreme Court.
The Cabinet specifically stated that the 11 cases will be treated as a one-time measure and will not become a precedent.
