Bhubaneswar: Thousands of block grant teachers observed a black day on Wednesday on the occasion of Teachers' Day to force the state government to fulfil their demands.

The teachers wore black badges and demonstrated at Mahatma Gandhi Marg braving incessant rain.

The teachers under the banner Odisha School College Teachers and Employees' United Forum demand equal pay for equal work, provision of full aid and Seventh Pay Commission-recommended salary among others. They also urged the government to increase the retirement age of teachers and other staff members working in aided, new aided schools and colleges from 60 to 62 years.

The teachers threatened that they would gherao the MLAs' houses across the state on September 6 and 7 and take out rallies in every panchayat from September 17 to press for their demands. They have also decided to lock schools and abstain from teaching from Thursday.

"If the government fails to fulfil our demands, we will completely paralyse the educational activities across the state," said forum president Pabitra Mahala.

The agitation will hamper the educational activities in more than 6,500 schools and colleges across the state.

In another development, the annual state and district-level programmes to felicitate teachers has been postponed for an indefinite period.

School and mass education minister Badri Narayan Patra said discussions were on regarding the demands.

"The chief minister and a committee are looking into the matter, so there is no point in creating such ruckus. They need to have patience, because their demands involve a lot of financial and provisional decisions," he said.

The matter was also raised in the Assembly on Wednesday. BJP MLA Pradip Purohit, disapproving of the situation, said: "It is very unfortunate that on such a day teachers are treated like this. The matter needs to be sorted out at the earliest possible by the state government."

Earlier, the Opposition members alleged that the state's education system had collapsed with the quality of teaching going down.

A number of activities were hosted across the state to celebrate the Teachers' Day occasion.

"Teachers are the unsung heroes of our communities. Today is a the to acknowledge and celebrate their foundational influence in our lives," said Archana Jena, a Class V student.