Shillong: The Meghalaya cabinet on Friday approved the proposal to implement a pay revision under the Fifth Meghalaya Pay Commission for teachers in deficit schools and colleges across the state.

This was approved during a cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Conrad K. Sangma. After the meeting, education minister Lahkmen Rymbui said the pay revision will come into effect from January 1 last year.

A revised salary will be paid from next month, while arrears from January 2017 to June this year will be released in four instalments, 25 per cent each.

According to Rymbui, Rs 126 crore would be required to pay arrears to the teachers, and an additional amount of Rs 84 crore was needed to implement the pay revision.

Before the pay revision, the state education department spent over Rs 278 crore per annum, and now the government will have to spend Rs 362 crore annually.

On how the government would manage its funds in view of the financial crisis, Rymbui said the government would try its best to fulfil its obligations.

"We have to find ways to tap additional resources," he said, adding that the education department has to spend 90 per cent of its budget for payment of salaries.

Giving a break-up of deficit schools, deficit-pattern schools, colleges as well as staff, both teaching and non-teaching who will benefit from the revised pay scales, Rymbui said the lower primary level alone, has 1,911 schools and 3,852 staff, upper primary (136 schools and 877 staff), secondary (121 schools and 2,363 staff), higher secondary (17 schools and 186 staff), deficit-pattern secondary (9 schools and 102 staff) and deficit college (15 colleges and 281 staff).

Altogether there are 2,194 schools and 15 colleges, and 7,380 teachers and 281 college staff.

On November 17 last year, the state government had decided to implement a pay revision for its employees with effect retrospectively from January 1, 2017. The revised salary was paid to the state government employees from December 2017.

The arrears to be paid to the state government employees would be first disbursed at 40 per cent, and the rest 60 per cent is being divided into two, 30 per cent each.

According to the Fifth Pay Commission's recommendations, the net financial burden on revised pay and allowances only for state government employees was estimated at Rs 4,008.58 crore. While the total recommended revised pay is Rs 3,388 crore, the recommended allowances are Rs 620.58 crore.

An approximate additional financial burden on the state exchequer for pay and allowances is 25.8 per cent or Rs 1027.17 crore per year (Rs 85.6 crore per month).