Though a Ministerial Committee under the chairmanship of Finance Minister Sashi Bhusan Behera and comprising School and Mass Education Minister Badri Narayan Patra, the Secretaries of Higher Education and Mass Education and other officials called a delegation of the Block Grant teachers for negotiation on Wednesday after 28 days of their agitation, it seems the fresh bid of the Government, instead of resolving the standoff, made the matter worse.
Courtesy the highhandedness of the Government to impose its decisions without caring two hoots for the demands of the long suffering and neglected teachers and its same old trick of biding time, the meeting resulted in a fiasco, despite the tall talks all these days that the Government has been considering the teachers’ demands.
According to sources, during the discussion with the teachers’ representatives, the Government did not budge from its old stand. On the other hand, the Ministerial Committee sought to take at least four months’ time to decide on the demands of the teachers like providing grant-in-aid (GIA) with service conditions and post retirement benefits, including pension.
All Odisha School and College Teachers’ and Employees’ United Forum leader Prakash Mohanty told this paper that the Government side remained adamant and tried to play the same game. Consequently, the meeting remained inconclusive, he informed.
Mohanty further said that the Block Grant is no new issue before the Government which knows very well about the rot in the education system and also how to resolve it, but sadly, there is no genuine concern. He further warned that the agitation will be taken to the panchayat level and common people would be made aware of the problems, besides the Government’s who-cares attitude to the education need of millions, especially those who are poor and marginalised.
Notably, the agitation against the Block Grant system has gone to a nauseating level by now, and though the Government has been facing scathing attack from all sections of people, including the Opposition and intelligentsia, so far it has not taken any daring step to end the row keeping in mind the interest of thousands of teachers under the system and lakhs reading in Block Grant schools and colleges. Long years since the BJD Government started the Block Grant policy in 2008, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, amid virulent teachers’ protests, had in 2017 announced to implement GIA from January 1, 2018. But when it came to implement the GIA, a controversial affidavit clause was added as a condition to avail GIA which made the beneficiaries pledge not to move court over the any decision of the Government in the matter in future. Besides, the service of the teachers, irrespective of their seniority, was counted only from January 1, 2018. There were no service conditions and post retirement benefits either. The affidavit condition coupled with Government’s silence on service conditions triggered widespread protests from the teaching community who are now demanding that the new GIA policy be rolled back.