Odisha primary teachers’ outfit refuses to budge, to continue stir

Bhubaneswar: The primary school teachers association in Odisha decided in its steering committee meeting held here today to continue with the ongoing strike, as yesterday’s meeting with the state government failed to yield the desired results.

However, the Government has claimed that the talk held in the conference hall of the School Mass Education Secretary’s office was amicable. During the discussion, it was suggested to constitute a five-member sub-committee to thoroughly review the demands, and in turn, present those before an inter-ministerial committee based on the sub-committee’s review and as per government norms.

“Central government pay-scale for primary teachers, implementation of career advancement policy in case of art and physical education teachers, regularisation of service of junior teachers and the abolition of ex-cadre of mass education teachers are some of our demands,” an office-bearer of the association said.

“On one hand, the State government recently notified to fill up 20,000 vacancies to primary teacher posts. On the other hand, it is not keen to meet our demands. The notification is only a gimmick keeping in mind the upcoming elections and we are only being cheated,” the office bearer stated.

Worth mentioning, the outfit was yesterday requested to call off its strike following the discussion.