Opposition Slams Odisha Govt As Primary School Teachers Intensify Stir Amid Mass Leave

Bhubaneswar: With the primacy school teachers in Odisha deciding to continue their agitation, opposition BJP and Congress on Wednesday hit out at the state government holding it responsible for disruption of teaching.

Stepping up their agitation, the primary teachers under the banner of Primary School Teachers’ Association decided not to withdraw their stir and go on mass leave in support of their demands, including job regularisation and pay hike.

Leaders of opposition parties also described the ongoing agitation by the primary teachers as ‘justified’.

Mounting a scathing attack on the state government on the issue, BJP claimed that it is 5D and not 5T as the government has failed to address the grievances of the teachers even after 5 days because of its apathetic approach.

Stating that the the demands of teachers are just, state BJP spokesperson Anil Biswal said the teachers have been protesting for over the last five days, but the government is unable to address their grievances despite its tall claims about 5T model of governance.

The BJP leader further claimed that teaching has come to a halt in thousands of schools across the state as the state government is unwilling to meet the demands of the agitating teachers.

Attacking the government in same vein, veteran Congress leader Narasingha Mishra claimed that the education system has literally collapsed in in the state.

Referring to the Supreme Court’s emphasis on quality education, Mishra said this requires recruitment of good teachers with good pay scale on permanent basis.

It is difficult to figure out how many categories of teachers exist in Odisha, he said, adding that  announcements made by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik are always changed.

It may be noted here that the primary school teachers have decided to continue their agitation even after the state government on Tuesday appealed to them to withdraw the stir as their demands were being examined.

The steering committee of the Primary School Teachers’ Association took the decision at its meeting on Tuesday following the government’s appeal.

In its appeal to the teachers, the government said it had constituted a five-member sub-committee to review their demands. The sub-committee would submit its report to the inter-ministerial committee after examining the demands and then the government would take the final call.

Among other things, the teachers have demanded regularisation of their jobs, implementation of career advancement policy in case of art and physical education teachers and abolition of ex-cadre of mass education teachers are some of our demands.