Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Tuesday announced that the honorarium of teachers of Odia schools in Jharkhand will be doubled from Rs 3,000 to Rs 6,000 per month forthwith.
On a two-day tour to Jharkhand to campaign for the BJP ahead of announcement of dates for the Assembly election in the state, the chief minister said that a House Committee of the Odisha Legislative Assembly will make a visit soon to ascertain the problems faced by the Odia-speaking people there and steps will be taken based on its report.
Talking to mediapersons after back-to-back election rallies at Jagannathpur and Chaibasa in West Singhbhum district, Majhi said over 40 lakh Odia- speaking people reside in East Singhbhum, West Singhbhum, Sareikela and Kharsuan areas of Jharkhand. “But, the sizeable population is utterly neglected by the government. Efforts are being made by the Hemant Soren government to finish Odia language and culture,” he alleged. The Naveen Patnaik government had been providing an honorarium of Rs 3,000 each to teachers in Odia schools in Jharkhand following the intervention of Utkal Sammilani. Though the BJD government had announced to increase the amount to Rs 4,000, it is yet to be implemented.
A monthly honorarium of Rs 3,000 to a teacher is too meagre in current times. When this was brought to my notice by the Odia Samaj here, I immediately assured them to double the amount to Rs 6,000. In addition, the arrears of Rs 1,000 as promised by the previous government will be cleared with retrospective effect.
Regretting that the BJD government had neglected Odia schools in Jharkhand by discontinuing supply of Odia textbooks since 2007, Majhi said his government will revise the curriculum and new textbooks will be supplied free of cost to students before the start of the next academic session.
Expressing concern over the step-motherly treatment of the Hemant Soren government to Odia-speaking people in Jharkhand, Majhi said instead of appointing Odia teachers, the JMM-led government is making efforts to finish the language. “All the difficulties of the Odia-speaking people will be addressed once there is a double-engine government here,” he asserted.