Bhubaneswar, April 9: The 448 and 662-category non-government and aided college associations today called off their strike buckling under pressure from various quarters. They have also agreed to join the evaluation duties.

Both the associations announced the decision after an extensive discussion with higher education minister Pradeep Panigrahi this afternoon.

The meeting was held at the residence of Panigrahi, where energy minister Pranab Prakash Das and other representatives of the 448 and 662-category college teachers were present. The demands of the teachers such as abolition of block grant system of payment, implementation of grant-in-aid and other issues were discussed.

"It was a fruitful discussion and the teachers have agreed to join the evaluation duties. We appreciate their decision and are already in process of looking into their demands. There will be an inter-ministerial committee headed by finance minister Pradeep Amat on April 24 where other modalities will also be discussed," said Panigrahi.

"The state government has agreed to take care of our demands. We understand that it is a very crucial time for the students and that is why we have decided to join the evaluation process," said Pabitra Mahala, who is leading the 488 category college teachers.

The development has brought a sigh of relief among the students and parents who were under great stress after evaluation of the answer sheets was stalled for the fifth consecutive day owing to the teachers' strike.

The state government today engaged teachers of Kendriya Vidyalayas, Navodaya Vidyalayas, technical institutes and others with postgraduate degrees and one year of teaching experience in the evaluation process as an alternative measure.

However, the striking teachers had criticised the decision stating that these teachers were not acquainted with the procedure and such a step by the Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) may lead to large scale erroneous evaluations.