96 teachers absent from duty, action initiated against them: Odisha Minister

As many as 96 teachers appointed at various schools across Odisha are absent from their duty for a long time, informed School and Mass Education (S&ME) Minister Samir Ranjan Dash on Saturday. 

“Action has been initiated against near about 96 teachers across the State who are absent since long and there is no information on their whereabouts. They did not respond to repeated notices of the department,” Dash said.

Dash said the decision to initiate disciplinary proceedings against the absentee teachers has been taken at a meeting of the department. The absentee teachers had been working as Sikhya Sahayaks under the district Collectors. 

Earlier in the day, the S&ME department dismissed two teachers from service and slapped show-cause notice to eight others in Sundargarh district.

Prior to that, 10 teachers from Malkangiri district and 24 teachers from Nabarangpur district were terminated from service over their absenteeism. 

“In total, there were 31 such truant teachers. One of them had resigned from his job as he got a better job somewhere. We had served show-cause notices to the rest 30 teachers. Of them, six teachers submitted their replies but the remaining 24 neither turned up nor responded to the notices. So, they have been dismissed,” Nabarangpur DEO Pradeep Kumar Nag had said. 

As per reports, the department has served show-cause notices to as many as 154 teachers for remaining absent from duty.