About 25,000 teachers of governmentaided high schools in Orissa on Friday resigned en masse to press for their various demands.  The secondary teachers are up in arms against the existing block grant-in aid system for the school. They have been demanding provision of full grant-in aid to them, instead of block grant-in assistance.

The mass resignation of the teachers threatens to cripple the primary and secondary education in Orissa. Academic activities in at least 2,375 schools across the state are likely to be impeded by the development.

The move also caught the state government unaware and the mass education minister was seen closeted with senior officials of his department here on Friday to solve the crisis.

The school and mass education minister, Mr Pratap Jena invited the teachers for talks to address their grievances. The Orissa State High School Teachers' Association, however, claimed to have intimated the state education secretary in advance about their mass resignation. "We will boycott the pre-test examination in the high schools, if our demands are not met within a week", association president, Mr Prashant Mohapatra, said.