BHUBANESWAR: Members of Odisha Junior Teacher Aspirants Association ( OJTAA ) continued their dharna on Friday near the state assembly here demanding employment for them. They want the state government should employ candidates having degrees and eligibility to become teachers in schools across the state.
The association members have qualified Odisha Teacher Eligibility Test ( OTET ) to become teachers after completing bachelor in education (B Ed) and teachers’ certificate examination. They alleged that the state government has not issued notification to recruit junior teachers in schools since 2016.
“More than 60,000 candidates are waiting to work as teachers in the schools after qualifying OTET, but the state government is not taking any steps for our employment. If the government does not issue notification for recruitment of junior teachers, it will seriously impact on our future,” said Dhananjaya Jena, president of the association.
The association members had staged demonstration at the lower PMG here on November 11 and November 29 last year. “We had met school and education minister Samir Ranjan Dash earlier and requested him to fulfill our demands. He had told us to look into the issue, but nothing is materialized yet. When we did not get any response from the state government, we started our indefinite strike from February 12,” he added.
Jena said they will stage hunger strike and attempt self-immolation on February 17 if the state government does not fulfill their demand and issue notification for recruitment of school teachers.
A senior officer of the department said the government will consider the demand and discuss with the finance department about this issue.
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