LIVE TV
Odisha
Recommended Stories
Bhubaneswar: With the non-government college teachers remaining adamant on their decision to stay away from the evaluation of plus two answer sheets starting tomorrow, the government has said it has made alternate arrangements for the smooth conduct of evaluation work while warning them of stern action.
The Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) is considering engaging retired teachers in the process.
"No alternate arrangements can be made without teachers. If they stay away from the evaluation, we will request the retired teachers to do the evaluation work," CHSE chairman Basudev Chhatoi said.
Higher Education minister Pradeep Panigrahi called upon the striking lecturers to join the duty keeping the students' greater interest in mind.
"We request them to assist in evaluation work and not try to put the government in trouble. The government will take appropriate action if they create any obstacle ", Panigrahi said.
The defiant teachers, however, have refused to be vowed down by the government's threat of action.
"We are not scared of government’ s threat because we know that the government cannot take action against us as per Conduct of Examination Act. It should take steps to fulfill our demands rather than threaten us", All Orissa Non-Government College Teachers' Association (AONCTA) president Rabi Roy said.
The teachers had earlier threatened to boycott the valuation after a meeting with the Higher Education minister held on March 31 had failed to yield any concrete results.
The teachers have been demanding withdrawal of block grant system, salary on a par with teachers of government colleges and promotional benefits and increase in retirement age to 62 from 60.
As per the schedule, evaluation of answer scripts will be held in 49 evaluation zones of the state for which CHSE has engaged about 15,000 teachers.
The first phase of evaluation will be conducted from April 4 to 13 and the second phase from April 16 to 25.
