Odisha Govt To Cut Salary Of Absentee Teachers

Bhubaneswar: Tightening the noose around the agitating block grant teachers, Odisha School and Mass Education department on Thursday directed the district education officers (DEOs) and block education officers (BEOs) to cut the salaries of teachers, remaining absent without permission or on proper ground.

In a letter to all the DEOs and BEOs, department principal secretary Pradipta Mohapatra said that unauthorized absence of contractual teachers would be treated as reason for not renewing the annual contract due in March next year. Those teachers should be disengaged after following due procedure, he added.

On the other hand, All Odisha School-College Teachers and Employees’ United Forum convenor Golak Nayak said, “We are not afraid of any threat or action. The agitation will be intensified and thousands of teachers will gherao the Odisha Assembly today, if our demands including hike in grant-in-aid, 25 per cent increment for contractual teachers, pension and ex-cadre abolition are not met at the earliest.”

The block grant teachers, who are on an indefinite strike at Mahatma Gandhi Marg here since the last 22 days, had on Wednesday observed Teachers’ Day as ‘Black Day’ to put pressure on the the government to fulfill their demands.

On August 21, the ministerial-level meeting between the state government and the agitators over their demands had remained inconclusive. At the meeting, finance minister Sashibhushan Behera had assured them that their demands will be considered after another meeting that will be convened soon. He had also requested the block grant teachers to withdraw their strike and join duties.

Pressing for their demands, the teachers had boycotted both Matric and Plus II evaluation process in April this year by staging protests before different evaluation centres.