Other States - Orissa   

Teachers on the warpath

BHUBANESWAR: At a time when everybody is eyeing at a break during puja vacations in the eastern region, several teachers’ groups in Orissa are busy in chalking out strategy to launch protests to draw attention of the State Government on their long pending demands.

While All Orissa Government School Teachers’ Union (AOGSTU) decided to launch satyagrah in front of residence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday, members of Bloc Grant High School Teachers and Employees Association (BGHSTEA) threatened to lock up schools from Nov. 1 to press for their demands.

Addressing a press conference here on Friday, AOGSTU Secretary Ramakanta Mohapatra alleged that the State Government was trying to regularise ‘ineligible’ teachers in headmasters’ post ignoring Supreme Court’s order.

A trained graduate teacher with seven years of teaching experience could only be appointed headmasters. However, 854 teachers were appointed in-charge headmasters without the requisite qualification, members of the AOGSTU alleged.

After a prolonged legal battle, Orissa State Administrative Tribunal laid down a clear-cut guideline that these in-charge headmasters would not be entitled to the headmasters’ scale of pay and they could not claim the post of headmaster on the basis of interim arrangement.

"Our union have expressed strong resentment against the present move of the School and Mass Education Department in the matter of promotion of some headmasters from the infamous list of 854 without framing senior cadre list. About 387 ineligible candidates are feared to be benefited out of departments’ hoodwinking to court order," Mr. Mohapatra said.

The AOGSTU demanded immediate halt on promoting these headmasters as well as reverting them from the post.

Similarly, addressing a separate press conference at Berhampur on Friday, the BGHSTEA members alleged the State Government was not paying any heed to their longstanding demands to raise their salary. BGHSTEA secretary Prasant Pati termed the low salary as a shameAbout 1224 High Schools get bloc grant from the government to operate.

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