Bhubaneswar, Feb. 8: Police arrested five more block grant teachers today during their protest near school and mass education minister Debi Prasad Mishra's residence here, where they had gathered to press for implementation of full grant-in-aid.

They were also demanding the release of their 38 colleagues who had been arrested on Friday.

The block grant teachers have been striking for the past one-and-a-half months demanding grant-in-aid benefits to the teaching and non-teaching staff members of 2,608 block grant-in-aid schools and 167 high schools.

According to the grant-in-aid policy, schools getting block grant for more than eight years would be eligible for full grant-in-aid and be paid according to the Sixth Pay Commission's recommendations. This morning, the teachers moved towards Mishra's residence, protesting against the government's "false assurances".

On Friday, the police arrested the five teachers and resorted to baton charge when they tried to enter Naveen Nivas, chief minister Naveen Patnaik's residence. Some teachers hurled stones at the police while others tried to use the adjacent lanes to reach Naveen's residence. The arrested teachers were produced in court on Saturday.

The protests continued on Saturday as the teachers surrounded the residences of seven ministers - Pradip Amat (finance), Sanjay Das Burma (employment, technical education & training), Pranab Prakash Das (energy and information technology), Arun Kumar Sahoo (panchayati raj and law), Bikram Keshari Arukh (parliamentary affairs), Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak (health) and Mishra - all members of the inter-ministerial committee looking into the teachers' demands.

"How long will they carry on this farce of constituting committees and conducting meetings? By engaging police forces, they are trying to scare the teachers who are demanding justice," said Bramhananda Kar, a protester.

The teachers have already announced to boycott of the upcoming matriculation examination and evaluation.