Primary Teachers’ Union Calls Off Movement Temporarily

Bhubaneswar, 9th Oct 2025:  The agitation by the Primary Teachers’ Union, which had been ongoing for two days at the Gandhimarg protest site, was temporarily suspended on Friday afternoon. The union had demanded payment of salaries at the central pay scale. On Friday, a 15-member teachers’ delegation from the union held detailed discussions with Girish Chandra Singh, the independent Secretary of the School and Mass Education Department, regarding the teachers’ issues.

After Mr. Singh assured that prompt steps would be taken to consider the demands, the union suspended the agitation, according to union president Sunil Kumar Pradhan. However, the union has warned that if the demands are not fulfilled within a month, teachers will again block the state roads.

Relevant elementary cadre Bhukt level VI (A) teachers had been agitating at PMG, demanding salaries as per the central pay scale. According to the ORSP Rule 2017, the basic salary of these teachers was fixed at ₹23,600 as Grade Pay 2200. Based on the Education Rights Act 2019 and the National Education Policy 2020, the basic eligibility of primary teachers has been increased from two-city certificates to graduate B.Ed.

The agitators said that schools like Navodaya and Adarsha provide ₹4600 Grade Pay for equally qualified teachers from 1st to 8th class. But, primary school teachers are still working on matriculation grade pay without any salary increase. Thus, they demand a basic salary of Grade Pay 4200 at the central scale.

Teachers had been protesting at the agitation site demanding this raise. After the School and Mass Education Secretary’s assurances on Friday, the agitation was called off. The delegation included union core committee members Sunil Kumar Pradhan, Prakash Narayan Jena, Ajit Kumar Maharana, Malay Kumar Jena, Vivekananda Nanda Behera, Aaratabhanj Nijan Sahu, Triptimayee Nayak, Pradipta Kumar Behera, Pradipta Kumar Sengupta, Divya Kumar Chand, Tanmay Giri, Pramod Kumar Behera, Amaresh Mallik, Sanjib Satapathy, Ashok Mandal, among others.