Bhubaneswar, Apr 3 (PTI) Hundreds of contractual high school teachers staged a massive demonstration in Bhubaneswar on Monday, demanding regularisation of their service as was announced by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik last year.

In October last year, Patnaik announced the abolition of contractual appointments in the government, following which different departments regularised the services of their employees.

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The School and Mass Education Department is yet to regularise the services of 18,000 contractual high school teachers, said Panchanan Jena, one of the demonstrators.

The High School Contractual Teacher's Association threatened to launch an indefinite strike if their services are not regularised immediately.

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One of the agitating teachers said they were forced to hit the streets on the first day of the academic session as the chief minister has failed to keep his promise.

School and Mass Education Minister SR Dash said high-level discussions were underway, and a decision will be taken soon.

He urged the teachers to have patience, and return to their schools.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)