Hundreds of contractual teachers under the aegis of the Odisha Junior Teachers’ Association on Friday staged a demonstration at Lower PMG in Bhubaneswar over non-regularisation of jobs. The teachers alleged that they were recruited as contractual teachers in 2015.
Though the advertisement notification stated that their jobs would be regularised after 6 years, it is yet to be implemented by the State government.
Manas Ranjan Parida, State secretary, Junior Teachers’ Association, said, “The contractual teachers recruited in 2015 were eligible for regularisation after 6 years of appointment. But even after completion of 7 years, their jobs are yet to be regularised.”
Parida further alleged that the government has regularised the job of teachers in 11 districts while no announcement has been made regarding the status of teachers in the remaining districts of the State. “Those whose jobs have been regularised are drawing salaries as per the revised pay scale. But junior teachers are suffering the most. Already 6-7 teachers who had completed 6 years in service have died. As their jobs were not regularised within the time-frame, their families are deprived of pension and other government benefits,” Parida added.
The Junior Teachers’ Association further threatened to boycott duty for the upcoming Panchayat polls if the government did not fulfil their demand.
“When everything in Odisha is working in a time bound manner under the 5T initiative, why is the issue job regularisation not getting fulfilled in a time-bound manner,” questioned Saroj Panda, convenor of the association.
According to Panda most the teachers have not received any hike in salary and are deprived of the benefits which are meant for them. “The government should fulfil our demands before the imposition of model code of conduct ahead of the Panchayat polls. We will be forced to boycott poll duties if steps are not taken to resolve our grievances.”