Bhubaneswar: Teachers of 662 Non-Government Aided colleges in Odisha Thursday took out a rally from Master Canteen to Lower PMG in Bhubaneswar with black tapes on their mouths demanding equal pay.
The protesters have come together under an organisation called All Odisha 662 (+2, +3) Non-Government Lecturers and Employees’ Association to push for their four-point charter of demands.
The members of the association started their protest from February 13, 2023. After 15 days of protest, the state government tried to pacify the agitators by calling them for a discussion ahead of the Plus-II examination in March 2023.
The government, in the discussion, had assured them to act on their demands by March 12. However, no step was taken thereafter, one of the protestors said while adding that they have intensified and re-launched the protest.
Another agitating teacher said that even after protesting for 53 days, their demand of ‘equal pay for equal work’ was not accepted. They will continue the protest for the next three days. If the government fails to honour its commitment, the members of the association will boycott the evaluation of answer sheets for various examinations.
Notably, more than 4,000 teachers from 662 Non-Government Aided colleges across the state are protesting demanding pay at par with that of 488 category teachers. They have been demanding equal pay with the 488 category teachers, same pay for same grade, pension and implementation of 7th Pay Commission recommendations.
Earlier, Odisha Cabinet approved the Payment of Grant-in-Aid to the Non-Government Aided Degree Colleges, Aided Junior Colleges and Aided Higher Secondary Schools Grant-in-Aid Order, 2022 proposal which was aimed to benefit 15,711 teachers and employees in the state. The teachers of 662 Non-Government Aided colleges, however, rued that the move will only benefit a section of teachers belonging to 488 category who were appointed a year after them.
PNN
