Teachers gherao MLAs' quarters in Odisha, demand GIA

BHUBANESWAR: On the 11th day of their agitation, non-regular school teachers today gheroed houses of MLAs and prevented them from going to the Assembly.

The teachers were demanding regularisation of their service and implementation of the grant-in-aid (GIA) system of salary payment.

As many as 22,000 teachers have been on the strike affecting classes in nearly 4,000 schools across the state.

Terming teachers demand as genuine, Congress MLA Ansuman Mohanaty and BJP MLA Pradip Purohit said that they were prevented by teachers to attend the assembly.

"We will raise the issue in the assembly and mount pressure on the government to keep its promise made to teachers," said Mohanty.

School and Mass Education Minister Debi Prasad Mishra said, "I appeal to the agitating teachers to come for discussion instead of continuing their agitation. The government will certainly do the needful keeping an eye on the financial situation of the state,"

The teachers belonging to Odisha Vidyalaya Sikshak Mahasangh (OBSM), Block Grant Teachers' Association and Gana Sikhyak Mahasangh, however, demanded that the government should regularise their service as announced earlier.

The state government had earlier promised that the teachers working for six years will be given the status of a regular teacher and get equal salary as the government appointed teachers.

The teachers staged a protest in front of the State Assembly and had a face-off with the police yesterday.

"The protest will continue till the government fulfils our demands and we will join the schools only after the implementation of the grant-in-aid rules of 1994," said Prakash Chandra Mohanty, convener of Odisha Vidyalaya Sikshak Mahasangh.

The teachers have been protesting since August 10.