The Block Grant Secondary School Teachers and Employees Association (BGSSTEA) members have threatened to launch a State-wide agitation against the State Government on November 5, if their demands were not
addressed.
The members of the association have been demanding abolition of the block grant and implementation of Grant-in-Aid (GIA) for quite some time. Under the current pay scale, the teachers of the block grant high schools receive ` 4,995 monthly salary and a school’s peon receives ` 2,000.
“With the implementation of GIA, we would receive most of the benefits that the government schoolteachers get except house allowance,” explained BGSSTEA general secretary Prashant Pati.
The association members have threatened to block roads at 10 major spots across the State.
“We will be blocking major roads at 10 places in the State. This will be accompanied by ‘padayatras’ in the villages across the State to sensitise the people about the problems that we face,” said Pati.
He also added that they would go ahead with a State-wide lock of the 1,982 high schools on November 15. Around 24,000 high school teachers that the association represents will stop taking classes from November 15 till their demands are met. This would go on to hit education badly.
A similar lockout was organised by them last year and the State Government had promised that their demands would be fulfilled.
Since the State Government reneged on its promise, this year they have claimed that they will not budge from their agitation unless their demands are fulfilled.