Odisha School College Teachers and Employees’ United Forum staged a dharna near Gandhi Marg

Bhubaneswar:16/8/18;  Odisha School College Teachers and Employees’ United Forum resumed their stir on Thursday and staged a dharna near Gandhi Marg here over non-fulfillment of their earlier demands.

Reportedly, the protest is likely to be supported by over one lakh teachers and support staff from various educational institutions across the state.

The agitating teachers have threatened to continue protest if, their demands including abolition of the block grant system, equal pay for equal work, full aid provision for block grant teachers, etc are not fulfilled.

Seeking immediate intervention of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the teachers’ forum have stated that all educational institutions across the State would remain closed.

On April 19, the state government had assured the teachers to fulfill the demands by July 18 this year. Meanwhile, the state government also abolished the block-grant system by introducing grant-in-aid.

However, the forum has alleged that the grant-in-aid has become a matter of serious concern for them as the new provision sans service condition and provision of pension for retired teachers.

When asked, Higher Education Minister Ananta Das said, “Their demands are changing every hour. The situation is getting more problematic with frequent change in their demands.

He said adding that, discussion with the agitating teachers is underway and decision in this regard will be taken soon.”