The recent move of the Odisha government to regularise around 57,000 contractual employees by repealing the Contractual Appointment Rules 2013 for Group B, C and D posts has sparked resentment among 18,000 teachers who have hit the streets in Bhubaneswar alleging that the benefit is not being passed on to them despite serving as contractual employees for years.
Thousands of teachers gathered at Mahatma Gandhi Marg to raise their voice against the alleged discrimination of the state government on Sunday, November 20 and threatened that the protest will continue until their demands are fulfilled. They even threatened to boycott the Class X summative assessment - I that is scheduled from this week, if their grievance is not heard, as per a report by The New Indian Express.
Teachers' demands
The teachers under the banner Odisha Government High School New Pension Scheme Teachers' Association demanded that the benefits provided to the contractual teachers engaged from 2014 onwards also be extended to them under the abolition of the contractual appointment rules.
Association President Purnachandra Aech said after abolishing the contractual system, the state government framed new Odisha Group B, C and D posts rules 2022 with Department of General Administration notification on the same on October 16, 2022, in which, the regularisation and benefits of the new rules will be extended to those who have been engaged on a contractual basis after 2013. However, the government shouldn't forget that there are also 18,000 contractual teachers appointed between 2004 and 2013 in 4,848 government high schools and the benefits should be passed onto them as well, he said, as per the report by TNIE.
"If a contractual teacher engaged after 2013 is entitled to be regularised from the date of his/her joining, why is the same not being done in the case of teachers who joined before 2013 and why are their six years of work in schools not be counted in the service period?" asked the association members.
They alleged that if the benefit of the new rules is not passed onto them, many of the teachers who have been regularised following the six years contractual period will become juniors to those who joined after 2013. The newly engaged teachers will also draw more salary than the experienced ones. The members sought immediate intervention of the chief minister and the chief secretary for early redressal of their grievance.
