Government high school teachers protest in front of the Assembly in Bhubaneswa on Monday. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Dec. 9: Students of Utkal University today held protests outside the vice-chancellors office demanding action against outsiders responsible for violence on the campus.

The protestors demanded that the security of the campus be handed over to the state police. They said that despite having appointed ex-servicemen for better security, the incidents of violence on the campus have continued unabated.

Two students from the varsity were beaten up by some outsiders last evening, alleged student leader Tanmay Swain, who led a group of students to gherao the vice-chancellor and the registrar. “The current security system has failed to control the law and order on the campus. We want the state police to take over the responsibility,” he said.

Following the ruckus, various exams scheduled for today were cancelled.

At Mahatma Gandhi Square today, students and art teachers from various schools in the state enacted a play to press for their demands.

About 12 students of the Sangeet Mahavidyalaya here staged the play Naveen Patnaik Zindabad, a satire involving the chief minister and school and mass education minister Rabi Narayan Nanda. “We demand regularisation of our jobs and increase in the salary,” said Sairam, a student of Sangeeet Mahavidyalaya.

In another protest, thousands of teachers from government high schools under the banner of the Odisha Government High School Contract and New Pension Scheme Teachers’ Association today took to the streets demanding, among others, a 10 per cent enhancement of salary per annum, transfer facility and paternity leave.

“About 17,000 contract teachers have been engaged in various government high schools of Odisha. The contractual employees should get the benefits of regular employees and with grade pay and 10 per cent enhancement per annum,” said Ashok Kumar Mallick, working secretary of the association.