488 category college teachers call off stir, to join Plus II exam duty

Bhubaneswar: The 488 category college teachers’ association withdrew its stir following a discussion with Higher Education Minister Pradip Panigrahi on Monday.

Talking to media persons after the talks here, the president of the teachers’ association Pabitra Mahala said the discussion with the minister was successful.

He further stated the teachers of 488 category block grant colleges will participate in the conduct of the Plus II examination beginning from March 2 across the State.

Notably, on Saturday, the teachers’ association had threatened to boycott the ensuing Plus II examination and evaluation of answer sheets alleging that the State government did not invite them to the inter-ministerial committee meeting on Friday.

Although teachers of both 488 and 662 category colleges had launched the stir two weeks back demanding abolition of block grant and implementation of grant-in-aid (GIA) irrespective of their categories, only representatives of 662 category colleges were invited for the meeting.

The 662 category teachers had on Saturday announced to participate in the Plus II examination process till March 10 by wearing black badges.

Around 8,000 teachers of both 488 and 662 category colleges are on invigilation duty and management of examination hubs where question papers and answer sheets are kept.