Guwahati, Aug 23: The Assam government and the state’s primary teachers’ body will hold another round of talks on August 24 over the unresolved mechanism for payment of salaries to teachers regularised through the Special Recruitment Drive (SRD).The decision to hold the fresh meeting came after the Assam State Primary Teachers’ Association (ASPTA) met Director of Elementary Education Suranjana Senapati on Friday and pressed for restoration of the earlier salary payment system.The Association said the August 24 meeting would be crucial to resolving the uncertainty surrounding salary payments to SRD teachers under Samagra Shiksha Assam, who had earlier been assured that their salaries would continue to be processed through the previous system instead of the SNA-SPARSH module.ASPTA president Ratul Chandra Goswami and general secretary Shailendra Kalita said the Association had monitored developments between August 11 and 19, following its meeting with Education Minister Dr Ranoj Pegu, but found no corresponding changes in FinAssam.According to the Association, the DDO code continued to be shown as DIS/ASM/146, while the Directorate remained listed as Samagra Shiksha Axom and the Treasury as Dispur. It also said there was still no clarity on the salary-related information.During Friday’s meeting, Senapati told the delegation that discussions and necessary measures were underway at different levels to facilitate payment of salaries to SRD teachers through the earlier mechanism.The Association reiterated its demand that the teachers be paid in the same manner as they had received their June 2026 salaries.The salary mechanism has been a contentious issue for the teachers’ body. ASPTA had opposed the inclusion of SRD teachers under the SNA-SPARSH system and staged a statewide one-hour dharna on August 7, following an August 6 meeting with the Education Minister that failed to resolve the matter.The Association subsequently announced an indefinite sit-in at the Directorate of Elementary Education from August 12. However, following fresh talks with Pegu on August 11, it suspended the agitation till August 25 after the minister assured it that SRD teachers would continue to receive salaries through the earlier mechanism.With the issue yet to be fully resolved, Friday’s meeting ended with Senapati agreeing to another round of discussions on August 24.ByStaff Reporter