Cuttack, Feb. 19: Orissa High Court today directed the protesting block grant teachers to "co-operate" with the Board of Secondary Education in conducting the high school certificate (HSC) examination.

The court was hearing a PIL that had sought its intervention after the striking teachers threatened to boycott the HSC examination if their demands were not fulfilled.

More than 31,000 teachers of 2,608 block grant high schools and middle English schools have been on strike since February 5. The court assured the striking teachers that it would consider their grievances in the next hearing on the issue. The HSC examination is scheduled to start from February 22. Around 6 lakh students will appear in the examination this year from 2,882 centres across the state.

"The division bench of acting Chief Justice Pradip Mohanty and Justice Biswajit Mohanty directed all the teachers' associations leading the ongoing strike specifically to ensure that the teachers co-operate and take part in the matriculation examination process," petitioner counsel Prafulla Kumar Rath told The Telegraph. "The court further directed the director general of police to ensure that law and order was maintained and fixed March 10 for further hearing on the matter," he added. The protesting teachers have been demanding full grant-in-aid to get salaries at par with government schoolteachers.

Social activist and Markat Nagar resident Babaji Sahoo had filed the PIL expressing apprehension that the ongoing strike of the teachers, just before the HSC examination, "will jeopardise the educational process".