Odisha: 8,000 junior teachers demand permanent school jobs

BHUBANESWAR: Contractual teachers, under the aegis of the 2015-batch Odisha Junior Teachers' Association on Friday, staged a demonstration here demanding the regularisation of their services. Though the state government had assured them of doing so on the completion of six years in service, the decision is yet to be materialised.
Hundreds of junior teachers took out a rally at the Lower PMG Square here to protest against the government's alleged indifference to their long-standing issues.As many as 8,102 junior teachers, all of whom were in 2015 appointed on contract basis in the government-run primary and upper primary schools, have been demanding permanent jobs.
Saroj Kumar Panda, the convenor of the association, said, "The state government had issued a departmental order to regularise the junior teachers on completion of six years of their service. It should have started the process six months before we completed six years, but nothing has been done yet."
He accused the government of delaying the process. "Almost 11 months have passed, but we have not yet received any communication from the government to this effect. It does not even pay heed to court notice in this matter," he added.
Association secretary Manas Ranjan Parida also accused the state of ignoring teachers out, while paying heed to the demands of employees of different categories, including outsourcing staff. "If the government does not fulfil our demands, we will continue our dharna at the Lower PMG," Parida added.