BHUBANESWAR: Teachers under the aegis of Odisha School College Teachers’ and Employees’ United Forum on Thursday launched an indefinite stir at Lower PMG road here over non-fulfilment of their demands.
Forum members said after getting assurance from the State Government in April this year, it was decided in the steering committee meeting to put the month-long stir on hold. “However, our demands are yet to be fulfilled for which we decided to return to the streets,” they said.
After a series of protest by the teachers the State Government abolished the ‘faulty’ block-grant system last year and introduced grant-in-aid (GIA). However, the provision under GIA has become another cause of concern, the teachers said.
The forum members said as per the GIA system, teachers’ employment in GIA educational institutions will be considered from the date of its implementation which will leave thousands of teachers, who had worked earlier on contract basis for 20-25 years for a minimum pay, in lurch pushing their future into dark.
The forum said their stir will continue for an indefinite period and one lakh teachers will join the strike. All GIA school and colleges will also remain shut during this period, it said.
Meanwhile, Higher Education Minister Ananta Das urged the forum members to withdraw their strike and requested them to cooperate with the Government in addressing their problems and call of their strike. Das said the State Government has fulfilled many of the demands of the teachers earlier.