Agitating Odisha teachers decide to join duty

Bhubaneswar: Block-grant teachers, who are agitating under the banner of Odisha School and College Teachers’ and Employees’ United Forum seeking fulfilment of their demands, have decided to join duty from September 24.

However, they will continue the agitation on rotation basis at the Mahatma Gandhi Marg here. Those conducting classes at schools will wear black badges until their demands are met, informed forum leader Golak Nayak.

He further said that the forum has decided to organise a 12-hour strike on October 2 in front of district collectorates. Later, all teachers will gather again on October 9 at Mahatma Gandhi Marg for ‘Shiksha Bachao, Odisha Banchao’ samavesh.

Notably, the teachers are on agitation since August 16 seeking benefits of 7th pay commission, service condition and job regularisation among others under the new Grant-in-Aid (GIA) system. They had also stopped conducting classes in schools from September 6.