Block Grant teachers on strike, 40,000 schools locked

The education of over 5 lakh school students was affected on Tuesday as around 40,000 Block Grant teachers, teaching Classes VI to X, went on indefinite strike across the State.About 4,000 schools were shut, as teachers demanded regular pay and fixation of service conditions and assured career progression, among other things.

Citing that there is a gross discrimination made against the Block Grant teachers with only a quarter salary of the regular teachers being paid despite the same workload, the teachers have warned that the schools would remain locked up till their demands are not met.

Odisha Secondary School Teachers’ Association (OSSTA) president Binod Bihari Panigrahi maintained that a notification in this regard should be published by the State Government rather than an announcement.He said that they would gherao MlAs and Assembly during the monsoon session to press their demands.