BHUBANESWAR: Thousands of primary teachers on Friday staged a protest at Mahatma Gandhi Marg in front of the state Assembly here seeking immediate fulfilment of their demands.

Teaching was reportedly affected in more than 10,000 schools in the state on Friday owing to the protest.

The teachers under the banner of Prathamika Shikshyak Mahasangha demanded upgradation of teacher posts to level-2 and provision of salary at Rs 35,400 with Rs 4,200 grade pay, and grant of regular service benefits along with notional increments to all teachers of NPS category who have been serving since 2001.

Members of the Mahasangha claimed that at least 22 states in India have been paying primary teachers salaries starting from Rs 35,400 or above with a grade pay of Rs 4,200. However, Odisha remains at the bottom with just Rs 2,200 as grade pay.

The alleged that though the educational qualification for recruitment has been upgraded from matric CT to Plus II CT, the state government has not upgraded the post or salary accordingly. In other government departments, employees with Plus II qualification receive Rs 29,400 salary with a grade pay of Rs 2,800 which increases to Rs 4,200 grade pay after 10 years of service, they said while alleging that only primary teachers were being deprived of this benefit in violation of the ‘equal pay for equal work’ principle under the RTE Act.

They also said that while contractual service periods in other departments are counted toward regular service along with six notional increments, primary teacher are yet to be accorded such benefits.

Mahasangha convenor Ramlal Patel said when Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi was the Leader of Opposition, he had publicly supported these demands at the teachers’ protest rally. He demanded that the chief minister should consider these demands on priority to bring thousands of educators out of financial stress that has been affecting the quality of primary education across the state.

The Mahasangha leaders also threatened that they will intensify their agitation if their demands are not met.