Bhubaneswar: Thousands of contractual junior teachers took out a massive rally in Bhubaneswar to press their demand for regularisation of their jobs on Monday.
Speaking to media persons on their protest, Akshay Kumar Padhi, president of Odisha Junior Teachers’ Association said they were force to take to the streets as the state government has repeatedly gone back on its promise to regularise their jobs.
He said before announcing abolition of contractual employment in government jobs on October 15 last year, chief minister Naveen Patnaik had assured a delegation of the junior teachers in this regard in his grievance cell. Besides, the government had informed the teachers over phone that the official order would be released on regularisation of their jobs before the Cabinet decision, he added.
“Though the chief minister announced abolition of the contractual process in government appointments and around 57,000 contractual employees benefited from it, the junior teachers remain deprived of the decision. During the last two byelections in the state also, the government had promised to fulfil our demands. But the government refused to regularise our demand at a meeting in the office of the chief secretary on December 14, 2022 on the ground that the number of the employees has exceeded under the scheme,” said Padhi.
Reiterating the demand of thousands of teachers, Padhi threatened that if the government failed to fulfil its promise, they would be forced to intensify their agitation in future.
