The Block Grant Secondary School Teachers’ and Employees’ Association after rejecting the State Government’s fresh grant-in-aid (GIA) policy announcement on Saturday threatened to lock up the 1982 block grant high schools from July 15 across the State.
“We demanded complete abolition of the Block Grant system and the Government had assured us to take positive measures in this regard, but in vain. We reject the new grant-in-aid policy as it has no provision of annual increments and dearness allowances for the teachers and non-leaching employees,” said association president Prashant Mahapatra.
“Our other demands are provisions of service conditions and service benefits and sanction of arrears since 2004, but the new policy has no provisions for this too, he said.
“What School and Mass Education Minister Rabi Narayan Nanda announced recently is discriminatory,” said Mohapatra, alleging, that the new policy would divide the teachers’ community. “We demand DA and increment at par with the other fully-aided high schools,” he said.
As per the new policy, the schools which had been getting Block Grant for more than eight years would get full grant-in-aid as per the Sixth Pay Commission; those receiving grants for over six years would get 75 per cent and those receiving Block Grants for more than three years would get 60 per cent G1A. Around 25,000 teachers would join the protest, Mohapatra said.