Bhubaneswar: Sagarika Pani is both relieved and anxious while Pratik Bhuyan is excited.
Sagarika, a student of Bidyadhar Girls HS in Cuttack, and Pratik, a student of Tarada High School, Jajpur will return to school after an enforced break of 38 days with the striking teachers and employees of block grant school and colleges deciding to resume their duties.
More than 80,000 teachers under Odisha School and College Teachers’ and Employees’ United Forum (OSCTEUF) Saturday decided to discontinue their strike and resume duties Monday.
Both relieved and anxious, Sagarika said, “It is not just about examinations but the quality of our education is also being compromised with. The problem between teachers and the government has affected our academics to such a degree that now the teachers will try finishing up the syllabus in hurry. We are unsure of scoring good marks this session. However, that regular classes will resume Monday is a relief.
Pratik said he was excited at the prospect of going back to school after the long lay-off. “We are really excited about going back to school after more than a month but since we were not assigned any task or homework, the break went unproductive for us, he said.”
As relieved as the students was a parent, Nareen Dhal, who, however, said such situations need to be avoided. “We cannot afford such kind of strike at the cost of our children’s career. The agitation has to come to a conclusion and there needs to be stability in the teaching-learning procedure.”
Sagarika might find some comfort in the words of Purusatam Biswal, an agitating teacher, who admitted there was need to catch up after the lost time. “We have fallen behind and there is a deadline to meet. We would conduct extra classes and also teach on holidays to complete the course making sure that quality is not compromised,” he said.
Purusatam Biswal, an agitating teacher said, “The syllabus is running behind and we have got a deadline for the completion. We would conduct extra classes and teach on holidays for the completion of course making sure that the syllabus is complete without quality of teaching and learning being hampered.”
While the teaching and non-teaching staff will return to their respective schools and resume regular classes, their protest is far from over. They have decided to perform their duties by wearing black badges till the time their demands are fulfilled.
The 38-day strike affected the academics of around 30lakh students from 3,200 high schools, 1,050 colleges, 614 medium schools and 18 madrasa schools.
OSCTEUF President Golak Nayak talking to Orissa POST said, “We genuinely understand the inconvenience that our students went through and also understand that they are the nation’s resources. This is the only reason we are going back to work but our agitation will continue on rotation basis. The ministerial committee is yet to take a decision and if it doesn’t go in our favor, our protest in the city will be more extensive. We will stage protest in front of all the district collectors’ offices across the state. Besides, we will also organize a rally in the capital city October 9.”
OSCTEUF has also threatened non-cooperation during election if their demands are not fulfilled.
Minister of School and Mass Education, Badri Narayan Patra, said the demands of the teachers were genuine. “However, they will have to understand that the procedure takes time and Chief Minister is personally monitoring this issue,” he said.
The block grant teachers and employees have been demanding removal of affidavit clause in the newly announced grant-in-aid system, equal salary for equal work, provision of full aid among others.
