Primary school teachers hold protest in Odisha over various demands

Thousands of primary school teachers on Sunday staged a demonstration here seeking fulfilment of several demands, including complete abolition of contractual appointments.

Traffic came to a halt at the thoroughfares in Bhubaneswar on Sunday as the agitating teachers from across the state staged demonstrations at the Mahatma Gandhi Marg here to press for the demands.

The protesters, besides urging the state government to scrap contractual appointments, sought annual increments during the first six years of employment for those who have already been hired under contract, before their regularisation.

They also sought salary on par with the central government-appointed teachers.

Some of them alleged that they are being paid less than high school teachers, despite having similar qualifications.

A delegation of the agitating teachers, after around four hours of the demonstration, held a meeting with education department officials at the state secretariat, a source there said.

The government, as of now, couldn't give them any assurance in view of the model code of conduct in place in Padampur assembly constituency, the source at the secretariat added.