1.3 lakh primary teachers go on strike in Odisha

1.3 lakh ,primary teachers ,strike ,Odisha, BHUBANESWAR: Around 1.30 lakh primary and upper primary school teachers reportedly went on mass leave across the state on Wednesday over non-fulfilment of their demands including hike in pay. The strike affected over 50,000 schools and more than 40 lakh students along with the mid-day meal programme on the day. Six to seven different associations under the banner of All Utkal Primary Teachers’ Federation (AUPTF) had launched the strike on September 8 and the deadlock did not end even after discussions were held between the protestors and the government. The federation’s members demand includes upgrading the grade pay from Rs 2,200 to Rs 4,200. “The central grade pay for primary and upper primary school teachers is Rs 4,200. Governments of around 22 states are providing the same grade pay to their teachers. Even as Odisha government has upgraded the qualification from matric and certificate in teaching (CT) to Plus-II along with CT or Bachelors in Education (BEd) as per the guidelines of National Council for Teacher Education, it is yet to enhance the grade pay,” said federation member Sunil Kumar Pradhan. The protesters also want to abolish the contractual system for junior teachers and directly appoint them into the elementary cadre. Junior teachers have to work for six years before getting into the elementary grade. In Odisha, the contractual system should be abolished. “The government should also add our contractual period into our service and provide us six notional increments for the same”, said Pradhan. The protestors are also demanding to restore the old pension scheme. The demonstrations are being led by federation’s general secretary Charulata Mohapatra. Sources in School and Mass Education department said the government has constituted a panel to look into the teachers’ demands. The panel has been asked to submit its report to an inter-ministerial committee following which the government will take a call. However, the protestors said they will not call off the strike. “Demonstrations over our demands were earlier held in 2017 and 2022 but the government is yet to fulfil them”, said a protestor.