By Sujata Jena
Bhubaneswar, Nov 26, 2022: Hundreds of temporary teachers are on an indefinite strike demanding regularisation of their service in the eastern Indian state of Odisha.
“We were employed by the government during 2003-2004 but the government sacked us in various false cases,” says a statement from the association of Swechasevi Sikshya sahayak (SSS, Student Assistant volunteers).
The association wants the government to follow a High Court order and re-employ all dismissed teachers and regularize those still working.
The protest that began November 14 continues even after two weeks at the Lower PMG Square in Bhubaneswar, the state the capital.
“The government has divided us into three parts, regular, contractual, and overthrown members. This is how we have been harassed for 19 years,” bemoans Duryajan Sethi, president of the SSS teachers’ federation.
He said the high court on November 9 gave the order in the teachers’ favor. “If the government does not listen, we will intensify the protest and continue to demand to re-employ 243 teachers who were removed unjustly and regularize the 412 teachers who are working on a contractual basis.”
The press release of explained the SSS teachers were engaged as Swechasevi Sikshya Sahayak through a recruitment process during 2003-2004 by the order of the district collectors. While continuing in those posts, some teachers were removed from the service in 2018 following a letter from the additional secretary of the Mass Education department.
The letter has been issued taking into consideration the order passed by the High Court of Odisha in favor of Hrushkesh Bindhani’s case. Bindhani, who was not recruited for the SSS post filed a case that there was no notification served in Odisha’s Jharsuguda district for the recruitment of the SSS post.
The High Court of Odisha had earlier ordered district collectors to look into the matter and make the right decisions. However, every district collector followed their own conscience and took action accordingly. As a result, nearly 500 teachers were disengaged from service in different districts of Odisha.
Devanad Jena, of Odisha’s Gajapati district, said 243 teachers like him were removed from the service in 2018 although they did not come under the purview decided in the case of Hrushikesh Bindhali. “We were unjustly removed from the job after rendering service for more than 15 years regularly,” he said.
He said only nine from his batch were disengaged from the service and more than 40 still teach in government-run primary schools on contracts. “The decision made by the collector is totally illegal and illogic,” said Jena.
Roji Sethi, another teacher who continues to teach in a government-run primary school on a contract,.said, “It has been 19 years since we are working without regularisation of our service. Most of our junior batches are regularized. Despite our many agitations, the government does not justify our cause.”
According to a government rule, a teacher should be regularized if he or she has worked for six years in a school.
Khetra Mahan Patra, SSS vice president, termed as “extremely depressing and shameful” that the government ignores even the court order. On November 9, a two-judge bench of the Odisha High Court justified the teachers demand and directed the government to settle the matter within two months.
“We also met with the minister of education and submitted our demands. Until now we have not heard anything from the government. We hope justice will be done to us,” Patra bemoaned.
He said rural Odisha faces an acute shortage of school teachers, but the government hardly employs enough teachers.