Aspirants urge OSSSC to speed up teacher hiring

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha High School Teacher Aspirants’ Association launched a protest on Monday, urging the Odisha Subordinate Staff Selection Commission (OSSSC) to speed up the long-delayed recruitment process for language teacher recruitment (LTR) posts.The association alleged that unnecessary hurdles stalled the process, causing anxiety among thousands of candidates. The state govt announced the recruitment drive on Oct 22, last year to address the acute shortage of teachers in high schools. OSSSC was then entrusted with conducting the selection. However, the process was abruptly halted on Oct 29, 2024. It resumed this Jan, with a major change: 1,496 posts were converted to TGT Odia, accounting for 25% of the original TGT Arts vacancies.“In total, 6,025 posts were advertised across nine departments. OSSSC clarified that if the number of candidates was less than five times the vacancies, the preliminary exam would be skipped and the main exam held directly,” the agitating candidates said.They said that, accordingly, the main exams for TGT Arts and TGT Odia were scheduled for June 23 and June 29, but the Odia paper was postponed due to pending litigation. Later, exams for Arts and Literature were conducted on Nov 22 and 23.The association placed three key demands before the authorities: immediate release of the revised final answer key and document verification list; strict action against those obstructing the recruitment process without valid reasons and OSSSC should act responsibly and expedite the process in line with judicial directions.