Govt action against 96 truant teachers

Bhubaneswar: The state government has initiated disciplinary action against 96 teachers after they did not respond to the show-cause notices issued to them for remaining absent from school for months. “Despite repeated notices, these teachers did not respond to the show-cause notice and there is no information regarding their whereabouts,” school and mass education minister Samir Ranjan Dash said on Saturday.
Sources said the decision to initiate disciplinary proceedings against the teachers, who work as Sikhya Sahayaks under the district administration, was taken during a meeting of the education department.
Over 200 teachers and school officials have been absent from duty since 2007. Even though the teachers and employees were absent for so many years, the school authorities did not inform the department’s senior officers.
By 2019, as many as 189 teachers and employees were absent for a long time of whom 108 were contractual employees. Their annual contract was not renewed.
The highest number of 15 absentees were reported from Balangir followed by 11 from Jajpur, 10 each from Kalahandi, Nabarangpur and Jajpur, nine from Kandhamal eight each from Mayurbhanj, Dhenkanal and Gajapati.