Odisha block grant teachers’ strike enters third day

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Aug 12:

The indefinite strike by the block grant teachers under the banner of Odisha Vidyalaya Sikshak Mahasangh (OVSM) entered the third day today despite the request by the state government to withdraw the strike call.

As part of their protest, the teachers of nearly 4, 000 such schools have locked up the school buildings, bringing studies to a grinding halt in the process.

About 40 teachers have been demonstrating in front of the offices of the District Education Officer (DEO) and the district collector in the state.

“We demand the state government to provide full grant to all 4000 eligible block grant schools and announce grant-in-aid to these schools. The state government had taken a decision in this regard  one-and-half years ago. It must implement the decision with immediate effect,” convener of the Mahasangh Prakash Chandra Mohanty told the media today.

He said the Mahasangh has also demanded annulment of new grant-in-aid policy and implementation of the grant-in-aid rules of 1994.

The Mahasangh has warned that there would be no teaching in any block grant schools till the state government has pays full salary to the teachers.

“We have given the final warning to the state government. We will continue our protest till our demands are met,” Mohanty said.

On the other hand, School and Mass Education minister Debi Prasad Mishra has requested the Mahasangh not to stop teaching in the schools and discuss the issue with the state government.

“The government is trying to do its best to fulfill the demands of the block grant teachers within its limited resources. We have started action and are having a dialogue with the Finance department. I hope the teachers would choose the democratic method to select representatives to continue the dialogue with us and go back to school so that the curriculum of the students is not affected,” Mishra pointed out.