Other States - Orissa   

School teachers to continue stir

CUTTACK: The Orissa Secondary School Teachers’ Association (OSSTA) has criticised the announcement made by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday over the pay hike for teachers.

Addressing newsmen here on Thursday, OSSTA general secretary Kishore Kumar Panda reiterated that they would continue their agitation until their demands were fulfilled. “We had submitted an eight-point charter of demands to the government on November 13 and would stick to it,” Mr. Panda asserted.

The OSSTA was planning for a mass convention in Bhubaneswar on December 3 in which about 40,000 teachers and parents would participate.

“Following the mass convention, all the teachers would take mass casual leave on December 6 and launch civil disobedience movement to drive home our point,” Mr. Panda told newsmen. Mr. Panda faulted the Chief Minister’s announcement saying the block grant system should be completely abolished as it creates a lot of confusion and disparity among teachers of same school. According to the Chief Minister’s announcement, the block grant to the high schools has been hiked from Rs. 1,68,912 to Rs. 3,65,628 per annum.

“The Chief Minister’s announcement is silent on any specific grant per school which creates a lot of problems in future as salaries of teachers vary from school to school,” Mr. Panda pointed out. He said the Chief Minister’s move was not only misleading but also violates Section 4 of the Grant-in-aid Act of 2004.

Mr. Panda demanded withdrawal of Block Grant scheme completely and allow teachers to get revised pay-scale. He said the contract teachers should be immediately converted into regular teachers and fill all the vacancies in school.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Uncertainty over ‘Kshetra Utsav’
Book on career options released
Konark fest
Buffalo owners demand dairy outside city limits
Youth mela
Delay in bamboo cutting operation worries tribals
Move to shift court opposed
School teachers to continue stir
Baliyatra: 15 child labourers rescued
Naveen announces sop to education volunteers
House adjourned sine die

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu