Over 1,30,000 primary school teachers went on mass leave on Wednesday to press their demands including ending the practice of contractual appointment of teachers, raising the grade pay and re-introducing the old pension scheme, the Odisha primary teachers association said.
The move to go on mass leave marks the escalation of their agitation which had been going on for the last four days.
“We staged a protest over the same demands in November last year. At the time, the state government assured us of looking into our demands. An inter-ministerial committee was also formed for this purpose. The committee held its meeting on this Teacher’s Day. However, no decision was taken. Now the government has decided to form another sub-committee which we feel is being done to take us for a ride. So, we launched the protest,” said All Odisha Primary School Teachers Association president Brhmananda Moharana.
Maharana said the teachers were demanding abolition of contractual appointment as has been done in the case of high school teachers. Besides, the inclusion of ex-cadre teachers in the elementary cadre, hike of grade pay from existing ₹2,200 to ₹4,200, formulation of service cadre for Art and PET teachers, filling up of vacancies and old pension system were among the major demands, he said.
On Wednesday, he said, teachers held protests outside the offices of block education officers and district education officers as schools remained closed.
{{/usCountry}}On Wednesday, he said, teachers held protests outside the offices of block education officers and district education officers as schools remained closed.
{{/usCountry}}“While pension provision has been implemented for elementary teachers in many states including Jharkhand, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Punjab, it is yet to be considered in Odisha,” one teacher said.
Another said while Odisha recently notified 20,000 vacancies in primary teacher posts, it did not seem to be serious about meeting the genuine demands of the existing teachers.
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) mocked the Odisha government for spending money on the chief minister’s top aide’s travels and not on teachers. “The demands of teachers are justified. It is now five days that the Odisha government has failed to address the grievances of teachers. They claim that 5T model governance is prevalent in Odisha, but we are seeing that it is 5D as already there has been a delay of 5 days to resolve the grievances of teachers,” said Odisha BJP spokesperson, Anil Biswal.
Odisha Congress president Sarat Patnaik said it was unfortunate that schools were closed due to the agitation “The chief minister does not seem to have any idea what is happening in education. The state of education has collapsed in Odisha. As per the Supreme Court, education means quality education. This means good teachers who are recruited with good pay scale and permanent teachers,” said Patnaik.