Bhubaneswar: More than 1.3 lakh primary teachers under the banner of the United Primary Teachers’ Federation launched an indefinite cease-work agitation from Friday to press for their three-charter demands.
The teachers of around 56,000 schools staged dharnas in front of 314 block education offices on Friday for the fulfilment of their demands including the abolition of the contractual appointment system, salary as per the central pay system and reimplementation of the old pension system.
Almost all primary teachers of different cadres are on mass leave and joined in the protest as the government is not paying any heed to the demands, said Brahmananda Maharana, president of All Odisha Primary School Teachers’ Association.
“We had staged a protest over the same demand in November last year. At that time, the state government had assured us of looking into our demands. An inter-ministerial committee was also formed for this purpose. The committee held its meeting on this Teacher’s Day. However, no decision was taken. So, we launched this mass protest,” he said.
The protest of teachers has impacted the study of students in primary schools across the state.
