More than 10,000 government high school teachers under the New Pension Scheme (NPS) staged a massive protest and rally at Lower PMG in Bhubaneswar on Monday, demanding recognition of their six-year contract service period as part of their permanent employment.
Organized by the Odisha Government High School NPS Teachers’ Association, the protest highlighted long-standing grievances of teachers appointed between 2004 and 2013. These educators, who served during the state’s financial crisis on meager monthly salaries of ₹1,500–₹2,500, were later regularized but denied the benefits of their initial service period.
The teachers are demanding:
- Inclusion of their six-year contract tenure in official service records
- Immediate release of pending national increments
- Equal treatment with teachers regularized post-2016 under the 2022 Repeal Rule
Despite repeated appeals, the state government has not addressed their concerns, prompting the association to launch a statewide agitation. Association President Purnachandra H. stated that the protest will continue until their demands are met.
The protest saw participation from teachers across all districts of Odisha. Key leaders including Sitakanta Mishra, Niranjan Behera, Subash Chandra Sahu, Sandeep Kumar Khatua, Saroj Kumar Sahu, Jitendra Kumar Nayak, Shashwat Mahapatra, Kalyani Rout, Gyanaranjan Acharya, Naresh Dwari, Santosh Kumar Palei, and Prafulla Kumar Baral led the proceedings.
The teachers argue that while the government claimed to end the contract system in 2022, many departments still operate under it, leaving thousands of educators in limbo.
