BHUBANESWAR: Block grant school and college teachers on Saturday threatened to observe Teacher’s Day on September 5 as Black Day if the government doesn’t regularise their services and bring them on a par with teachers receiving full grants in aid without any conditions.
The teachers had started dharna at the Lower PMG here on August 16 under the aegis of
Odisha School College Teachers' and Employees United Forum (OSCTEUF), a forum of school and college teachers unions, demanding withdrawal of a controversial affidavit clause in which the teachers and employees have to declare they will not move to court or stage protest against the government in future.
The government has not responded to their pleas, though the Orissa High Court on Wednesday quashed the state government’s notice to make affidavit mandatory for teachers to avail grant-in-aid facility. Some individual teachers had challenged the state government’s order to submit an affidavit declaring that they will not stage any protest or move to court against the government, said a teacher leader Prakash Chandra Mohanty.
Golak Nayak, another teacher leader, said they will wear black badges as a mark of protest. “We will resort to cease work from September 6 if the state government does not pay heed to their demands,” he added.
He said they want ‘Notional grant-in-aid’ which means the government will consider giving salary to the teachers as per the government scale from the date of their joining instead of a particular date.
They alleged that of the total 60,000 agitating teachers and employees more than half have completed 25 years of service and are on the verge of their retirement. “There is no point in giving them grant-in-aid from January 1, 2018 but each teacher should be included in the scheme as per their date of joining,” Nayak added.
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