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The Odisha government has opted to engage junior teachers (schematic) on one-year contracts, just ten months after abolishing the contractual system of appointments in the state.
The participation will be on an annual agreement basis, according to a letter sent out by the Department of Schools and Mass Education on Tuesday.
''The agreement will be renewed based on teachers' performance in succeeding years. A teacher must get a certificate from the relevant headmaster attesting to their attendance and satisfactory service before the agreement may be renewed. This certificate must be presented to the Zilla Parishad.
According to the letter, if a teacher violates the terms of the agreement after receiving a negative report from the block education officer based on unapproved absences, misconduct, involvement in criminal cases, and other reasons, she or he may be fired from their job with a 30-day advance warning.
Education advocates drew attention to the state government's 2018 decision to eliminate the position of sikshya sahayak and replace it with junior teachers who would work under a three-year contract.
The term "junior teachers" (contractual) was changed to "junior teachers (schematic)" by the government in April of this year. Although the government announced in October 2022 that the contractual system of employment would be abolished and the services of current contractual employees would be regularized, the current notification appears to be at odds with that announcement.
