Bhubaneswar, Oct. 31: Thousands of Class X students in government schools across the state are likely to suffer following a cease work campaign by teachers in 1,982 block grant schools from November 15.
The teachers today announced a non-cooperation movement against the state government and refused to help with the ‘form fill up’ process for the annual high school certificate exams 2013. Filling up of forms is scheduled to be held in the third week of December according to directions of the Board of Secondary Education authorities.
This apart, the regular classes in the block grant schools will also be affected.
Around 30,000 teaching and non-teaching staff members under the banner of ‘Block Grant Secondary School Teachers’ and Employees’ Association’ announced that they would start agitating from November 5 protesting against the “apathetic attitude of the state government”. They demanded the abolition of the block grant system and introduction of a provision for 100 per cent grants-in-aid on par with fully aided educational institutions.
Until 2004, schools in the state were being governed by the Grant in-aid (GIA) Act of 1969. But after the introduction of a new system of block grants in certain schools, these teachers were forced to draw much lower salary than their counterparts in government and semi-government schools.
“For the past several years, we have been trying to attract the attention of the government through democratic means like appeals, agitation, rallies, dharnas and hunger strikes. We even tolerated police brutality and lathi charge and yet the government has failed to give justice to us,” said general secretary of the association Prasanta Pati.
He said former minister of school and mass education Pratap Jena had declared in December 2009 that these schools would be given 100 per cent GIA status.
“The then secretary of school and mass education Aparajita Sarangi had also made similar promises two years ago. But nothing has been done yet. The government has fooled us. They kept us waiting, saying the GIA would be announced as a Durga Puja gift, but that too was a fake promise,” said Pati.
The association announced a strike and road block in at least 10 venues across the state on November 5. Teachers will take mass leave to organise a 12-hour roadblock at various national highways, teachers said.
