The teachers of all universities in the State under the banner of the Federation of Odisha University Teachers’ Association (FOUTA) have decided to wear black badges from May 1 in protest against the State Government’s apathetic attitude towards their demands.
FOUTA convener and Utkal University Teachers’ Association president Prof Santosh Tripathy announced this at a press conference on Friday. He said the Government has sidelined their legitimate demands, which are as per UGC guidelines, despite repeated requests.
“Other States have already upped the retirement age of university teachers to 65 as per the UGC guidelines. But Odisha is yet to implement the rules,” Tripathy said, adding that teachers have also not been getting promotions under the Career Advance Scheme since December 31, 2008.
He also lamented that the State Government is yet to issue a notification to designate university lecturers and readers as Assistant Professors and Associate Professors as per the UGC recommendations.
Besides, the Government is yet to fix revised UGC pay scale for the teachers in accordance with their eligibility and post, he rued. Tripathy demanded that the Government fill up all 30 per cent vacant teacher posts before the commencement of 2015-16 academic session.
He said the FOUTA as per its decision taken at a meeting held here on April 12, has urged all the universities to approve the proposal on implementation of UGC pay scales at their respective Syndicates and send them to the Government soon.
“We have decided to go on a token strike from May 1 to May 7 by wearing black badges. We would take out a candlelight rally from the Ram Mandir Square to the PMG Square on May 8. If the Government fails to meet our demands by May 14, teachers would resort to fast agitations at their respective universities from May 15 to May 22. Thereafter, FOUTA would begin fast-unto-death at the PMG Square from May 29. If the Government remains adamant still, we would resort to ceasework and start civil disobedience from June,” Tripathy informed.
Among others, Prof B Parasar, Prof KM Sethi, Dr BC Mallick, Dr AK Senapati, Dr AK Patel, Dr J Panigrahi, Dr PK Satpathy and Dr PK Parida were present.