A day after increasing the monthly remuneration of workers of Anganwadi and Mini Anganwadi centres, the Odisha government on Friday announced a hike in the monthly remuneration of Gana Sikhyaks in the State. The decision is said to benefit 12,113 such teachers working on a contractual basis in the state.
As per the decision, the monthly remuneration of Gana Sikhyaks who have not cleared the Odisha Teacher Eligibility Test (OTET) has been increased from Rs 7,000 to Rs 10,000. This will benefit 1121 mass teachers, the government said.
Similarly, the Gana Sikhyaks who have passed the OTET will be regularised as MED teachers (ex-cadre). This will benefit 1,472 Gana Sikhyaks in the state.
In addition, out of the assistant teachers (ex-cadres) who do not get annual increments will be provided the same if they have passed the OTET. This will benefit 9520 Assistant Teachers (ex-cadres).
It is pertinent to mention here that the Gana Sikhyaks in Odisha have been demanding regularisation and pay hike since the last five years.
As per reports, on 22 December 2016 a notification by the State government was released stating that trained teachers with eight years of experience would be regularised. However, after a few months, a fresh notification was issued changing the calculation date for the determination of the experience of the said teachers.
The Gana Sikhyaks alleged that teachers from six districts were affected and have reportedly lost their jobs due to the revised notification.