Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, August 20: Schoolteachers who have been demonstrating since August 10 demanding regularisation of their services and implementation of the grant-in-aid system of salary payment, Thursday intensified their protest and gheraoed official residences of MLAs here and tried to stop them from attending the Assembly.
Around 22,000 teachers under the banner of the Orissa Vidyalaya Sikshak Mahasangh, Block Grant Teachers’ Association and Gana Sikhyak Mahasangh are staging demonstrations in front of the Assembly. The stir has affected 4,000 schools across the state.
The teachers got support from opposition Congress and BJP, which promised to raise the issue in the Assembly.
Congress MLA Anshuman Mohanty termed the demand of the teachers genuine. “We will raise the issue in the Assembly and mount pressure on the government to keep its promise to the teachers,” he said.
The government should accept the demand of the teachers and protect the interests of the students and teachers, said BJP legislator Pradeep Purohit.
BJD MLA Balabhadra Majhi too agreed to raise the issue on the floor of the Assembly. “Teachers from my constituency Thursday gheraoed my residence and tried to stop me from coming to the Assembly. The matter is already being considered by the government, but I would raise it in the House,” Majhi said.
Meanwhile, school and mass education minister Debi Prasad Mishra again appealed the agitating teachers to discuss their problems instead of continuing their agitation. “The government will certainly do the needful keeping an eye on the financial situation of the state,” the minister said.