BHUBANESWAR: With the ongoing protest of primary and upper primary teachers affecting education and mid-day-meal of lakhs of students, the state government has asked block education officers (BEOs) to track attendance of teachers, especially those engaged on contractual basis and taking part in the agitation, and share the update with the elementary education directorate of School and Mass Education (SME) department daily.
Acknowledging the impact of the strike, the directorate of Elementary Education stated some primary and upper primary schools must have been affected partially or fully. It asked the BEOs to keep the record of the teachers absent in their schools due to strike and those who are performing their duties, especially contractual teachers.
“Daily report must be sent to this directorate and the detailed list has to be kept at the block point for future official purpose,” stated the director of elementary education.
Earlier, the SME department had warned the agitating teachers of primary and upper primary schools for taking mass leave and joining the strike without informing the competent authorities and had termed it as gross misconduct. Despite warning, teachers under the banner of All Utkal Primary Teachers’ Federation (AUPTF) are continuing their strike for the last one week seeking fulfilment of their major demands including job regularisation of those engaged contractually, pay hike with enhancement of grade pay to Rs 4,200 and introduction of old pension scheme.
Sources said teaching and MDM programmes were affected in more than 80 per cent primary and upper primary schools due to protest of the primary and upper primary teachers.Responding to the government’s letter, AUPTF members questioned how the term ‘contractual teachers’ surfaced in the letter, if the state government has announced abolition of contractual engagement in the state. They said the protest will continue till their demands are met.
SME department authorities, on the other hand, said at least three teachers associations of the federation, have not joined the strike and are performing their duties sincerely. They said the sub-committee formed to look into the issues of teachers will submit its report soon and sought cooperation from the federation in this regard.