Odisha government appeals to teachers to return to school

Appealing to the agitating teachers to return to their schools as studies of 2.25 lakh students are suffering due to their strike, Odisha government today said it was ready to modify the Block Grant Policy, 2013.
"The state government is aware of the problems of school teachers. We are not against the constructive and progressive approach to mitigate the problems of teachers. We are on the path of revisiting the Block Grant Policy, 2013," School and Mass Education Minister Debi Prasad Mishra said while replying to an adjournment discussion on the teachers strike.
Rejecting the opposition allegation that the government was not concerned about the teachers' strike which has entered 17 days today, the minister said, "We have held several rounds of talks with the agitating teachers, set up a ministerial committee to resolve the problems. Therefore, it is wrong to say that the government is silent on the matter."

However, the minister said the government has to look into different angles like the state's financial situation, the quantum of funds to be received from Centre, legal aspect and others, before fulfilling demands of teachers who wanted full grant-in-aid salary.
"The 7-member ministerial committee will recommend what best can be done for the teachers who work under the block grant policy. We are also concerned over the teachers who have reached the age of retirement," the minister said, adding that the Naveen Patnaik government formulated Block Grant Policy in 2004 when teachers were not getting any payment for their work.