Disgruntled: Teachers warn of protest outside assembly

Claim they are being punished on reports compiled through ‘inaccurate’ data

LAHORE: Another disgruntled faction of schoolteachers in Punjab has decided to take to the streets against the provincial government over its education policies.

On Sunday, a faction of the Punjab Teachers’ Union (PTU) announced holding a protest sit-in in front of the Punjab Assembly at Faisal Chowk tomorrow (Tuesday). This PTU faction is led by Ghulam Mohiuddin, Tariq Mehmood and Allah Baksh Qaiser.

According to a statement, the schoolteachers would protest against the disciplinary action of the government against school heads, pay scale upgrade and to stop the ‘privatisation’ of public schools across the province.

The statement claimed that teachers were being punished based on reports compiled through ‘inaccurate’ data and formulas in violation of the Punjab Employees Efficiency, Discipline and Accountability Act, 2006.

The teachers alleged that they were being mentally tortured through such tactics. “The inquiry officers and the School Education Department (SED) do not have correct and sufficient data to proceed against the accused teachers,” the PTU statement claimed.

The teachers demanded that all inquiries and punishments announced against schoolteachers be immediately suspended and those responsible for providing misleading and inaccurate data be punished.

They also demanded the government immediately issue notification for upgrading their pay scale, immediately stopping handover of schools to the Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) and Daanish School System.

The union warned it would announce further course of action on January 24 in front of the Punjab Assembly.

Various factions of public schoolteachers in Punjab have been protesting for the past two years against the policies of the provincial government. On several occasions, teachers have blocked the Mall Road and staged sit-ins spanning several days in the past.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 23^rd, 2017.