Bhubaneswar: Around 13,000 junior teachers (schematic) in Odisha started an indefinite strike at PMG Square, demanding the state govt urgently responds to the high court’s interim stay on their regularisation and clear the way for their long-awaited regular status.
The teachers, who are serving in primary and upper primary schools, said the prolonged uncertainty over their service status was affecting their career progression and depriving them of the benefits attached to regular service. They urged the govt to submit its response before Orissa HC and resolve the issue.
Earlier this year, CM Mohan Charan Majhi approved the long-pending demand for regularisation of around 13,000 contractual/schematic junior teachers working in govt and govt-aided schools across the state. The teachers, appointed during the 2023-24 academic year, were to be regularised from their date of joining. The regularisation process, however, ran into a legal hurdle after the Orissa high court granted an interim stay on the govt’s move. The court passed the order while hearing a petition filed by a group of junior contractual teachers who were subsequently appointed as elementary teachers.The petitioners have raised concerns over seniority, arguing that retrospective regularisation of the 2023-24 batch from their initial date of engagement could place them above teachers appointed earlier in the gradation list.
