DAV teachers resort to pen down strike

CUTTACK: For the students of the DAV Public Schools in Cuttack, it’s free time for the last three days. The teachers have adopted a “go-slow” approach to press for a salary hike which, according to them, has been due for three years now.The teachers at the DAV schools at CDA  Markat Nagar and Mahanadi Vihar have been attending classes but refrained from teaching for the last three days. As a result, the students had undeclared holidays. The issue has begun to worry the parents and guardians, who have begun demanding immediate resolution of the issue and resumption of studies.The teachers have alleged that they are being paid low salaries and despite repeated demands the authorities have paid no heed on the pretext of waiting for the Orissa High Court decision on the school fees hike. The High Court late last month has, in fact, struck down the decision of the DAV Public Schools to raise tuition and monthly fees. “Post-ruling, the authorities seem more disinclined to consider our salary hike. The senior most Post-Graduate trained teacher draws a salary of only ` 14,000 a month. We have been pressing for implementation of pay structure as per the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations,” said a teacher of CDA DAV School. The parents have reacted strongly to the developments. “Precious time is being lost as our children are being held to ransom in the stand-off between the teachers and authorities. They have to resolve the issue bilaterally without affecting the students,” said BB Rout, a parent. The DAV Schools Managing Committee, which held an emergency meeting on Tuesday evening, has appealed to the teachers to resume work from Wednesday and issued assurances of taking steps to alleviate their problems. “Sub-committees have been constituted to look into the matter and submit a report within a week. We assure the teachers of provisioning maximum benefits to them out of the available financial resources,” said Himanshu Kumar Mohanty, Regional Director of DAV Institutions.