Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, after long last, has announced that Block Grant (BG) to schools and colleges has been abolished and a new Grant-in-Aid (GIA) in its place has been introduced.
According to sources, there would be about a burden of Rs 805 crore on the State exchequer and about 60,000 employees under Block Grant would be benefitted.
With the announcement of the CM, the united forum of teachers and employees under Block Grant has called off its 17-day agitation but has warned that since the Government has taken two months’ time to fulfill the rest of the demands, including service conditions, it could again take to streets after the stipulated period if there are any lapses.
Notably, the teachers’ representatives, after their talks failed for three times in meetings presided over by the Chief Secretary and attended by the Higher Education and School and Mass Education Ministers, Secretaries of the two departments, Finance Secretary and Development Commissioner, met the Chief Minister straightaway on Friday where finally a solution was reached.
As per sources, the teachers’ leaders had been demanding that the CM intervene in the matter directly after repeated failure of their talks at the Ministerial and bureaucratic level. And, though during the meeting with the CM, they did not get their prime demand, ie, service condition, fulfilled, except for an assurance by the CM, the teachers agreed to end the agitation and go back to their institutions to resume normal duties.
The teachers were demanding GIA along with service conditions as applicable to the regular Government employees. In fact, there existed GIA policies in Odisha till 1994 under which employees in private schools and colleges were given financial benefits as regular employees of the Government after completion of five, seven and nine years of uninterrupted service at the rate of 40, 60 and 100 per cent of their due salary. The latest GIA policy was framed by former Chief Minister and BJD icon late Biju Patnaik in 1994 but since he could not win the next election, it was the Congress Government that implemented the policy. The 1994 GIA policy was historic as it covered highest numbers of schools and colleges till then. The Congress Government, however, had inked a pact with the DFID not to provide GIA, given the financial constraint of the time.
The BJD Government which came to power in 2000 came forward to provide grant to the schools and colleges in 2004 and since the Government was under obligation not to provide full grant, it introduced Block Grant.
Thus started a black period in the tradition of grant to educational institutions in the State which bred large scale discontentment among the employees and the result was that between 2004 and until now, the teachers divided under various groups, resorted to agitation for all these years.
The agitation was obvious, since the employees did not expect that after their institutions were taken over by the Government, still they have to work under low salary and deprived of service conditions.
Their service was virtually like that of contract workers. Despite agitation by the Block Grant employees, the BJD Government did not replace it with GIA and rather framed new Block Grant policies like the Block Grant Policy of 2008 and 2009 etc.
Earlier, the Block Grant employees fought for their demands under separate banners, like the school teachers has their own forum, the 662 college teachers and 488 college teachers has their organisations each. But this time, they came under a single banner since their demands were similar and that is why it has had the biggest impact so far.
Now, the question is when the prime demand of the agitators had not been met, why did they call off their stirIJ Though the teachers demanded GIA with service conditions, pensions and post retirement benefits, the Government has only agreed for GIA. Since the GIA covers salary, service conditions and all other post retirement benefits, how can the present arrangement which takes into account the salary part alone be called GIAIJ None seems to give a satisfactory answer though.
Already the teachers have expressed their dissatisfactions over it. A teacher said the new GIA is like head without tail. Another said the Government gave much less than was expected.
662 college teachers’ leader Golak Nayak said he was happy because it was the CM who finally intervened. “ Though there is still discontentment among the teachers and employees, since the CM has given us words to take a decision on our demand for service condition within two months, we are hopeful,” said Nayak.
488 college teachers’ leader Pabitra Mahala sounded an optimistic note. He said that the teachers have hope on the CM. School teachers’ leader Prakash Mohanty threatened to continue the strike again after two months if the Government did not fulfill demand for service condition and post retirement benefits. School and Mass Education Minister Badri Narayan Patra told that the CM’s decision has covered a big chunk of schools and colleges under GIA at a single stroke and hence, it was path-breaking.
The rush of the agitating teachers and the din and bustle around are no longer to be found at the lower PMG. But since the root cause of distress is still to be addressed, the unsavoury spectacle of teachers again crying for grant in coming days may not be rule out. What the CM has done is he has given merely a pain killer without making any sincere attempt to treat the disease.