File picture of block grant teachers protesting near the Assembly in Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar, Dec. 4: Teaching and non-teaching staff of 1,982 block grant high schools today threatened to stage a demonstration outside the Assembly on December 11 and 12 to protest against the government’s new grants-in-aid policy.

President of Block Grant Secondary School Teachers’ and Employees’ Association Prasant Kumar Mohapatra said the school and mass education department had tactfully deceived the teachers and employees of 1,982 high schools in the new policy. The association had been demanding abolition of block grant system and provision of grant-in-aid at par with fully-aided high schools for long. In December 2012, the department agreed for full grant-in-aid on the floor of the Assembly.

“But instead of providing us the facilities as announced, they notified something called the new grant-in-aid policy, which is almost similar to the previous block grant system. The new system has no facilities of annual increment, dearness allowance and other service benefits. It is nothing but an altered block grant-in-aid,” said Mohapatra.

The association reiterated its demand for allowing grant-in-aid to all the block grant high schools without imposing any restrictions, provision of dearness allowance, annual increment and service conditions in Grant-in-Aid Order 2013, provision of 100 per cent grant-in-aid to peons, higher scale to PET, Hindi and classical teachers. “We have been demanding salaries on a par with our counterparts in government-run high schools. However, instead of ensuring that, the state government is trying to create a divide between us,” he said.