Bhubaneswar: School and college teachers suspended their stir till September 22 after the Odisha government Saturday assured them of addressing their demands, including providing grant-in-aid and filling up vacant posts in education institutes, said the convener of the protesters’ forum.
The teachers have been on the streets in Bhubaneswar since August 15 over their eight-point charter of demands that also include pension for teachers employed under the block grant system.
The decision to suspend the agitation was taken in an emergency meeting of the Odisha School College Teachers’ and Employees Coordination Committee (OSCTECC) convened after Law Minister Prithiuviraj Harichandan and Higher Education Minister Suryabanshi Suraj announced at the agitation site at Mahatma Gandhi Marg that the government would sympathetically consider their demands and take a decision soon.
OSCTECC convener Ranjan Kumar Dash said, “As Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi sent two ministers to the agitation site who assured us of considering our demands, we have postponed the stir till September 22.
“We have faith in the government that it would do justice for the teachers who have been neglected for over two decades and denied any social security,” he said.
The forum, however, warned that if their demands were not fulfilled in a fortnight, they would return to the agitation site on September 22, the day the monsoon session of the Assembly is set to begin.
After meeting the agitating teachers, Law Minister Harichandan said, “We are hurt that the teachers are sitting on dharna day and night for the last 20 days. The government has already received a report from the high-level committee on teachers’ issue, and it is under consideration.”
Higher Education Minister Suraj appealed to the teachers to call off the stir and return to work, while assuring them that the government was sensitive towards their issues.
PTI