‘Anti-education policies’: Schoolteachers announce strike from Feb 2

After unsuccessful talks with SED, teachers decide to boycott upcoming exams, census

LAHORE: Teachers protesting against the Punjab government’s education policies and ill treatment of school heads have announced a total ‘educational’ boycott starting from February 2.

On Tuesday, the schoolteachers staged a protest demonstration outside the Punjab Civil Secretariat under the banner of United Teachers’ Council (UTC) led by a faction of the Punjab Teachers’ Union (PTU).

Officials of the Punjab School Education Department (SED) negotiated with the protesting teachers but the dialogue broke down and the teachers announced their future course of action.

The UTC leadership announced the teachers would not perform examination duties for the upcoming Punjab Examination Commission’s (PEC) exams or the national census scheduled in March. The teachers also announced a protest on The Mall on February 28.

The PTU faction led by Ghulam Mohiuddin, Tariq Mehmood and Allah Baksh Qaiser had earlier announced holding the protest outside the Punjab Assembly at Faisal Chowk but the protest was staged outside the Punjab Civil Secretariat.

The schoolteachers are protesting against several issues, including disciplinary action of the government against 94 school heads, upgrading their pay scale and an end to the privatisation of public schools.

The protesters blocked the road and shouted slogans against the SED, accusing the authorities of privatising the school education infrastructure. They claimed the handover of schools to the Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) and the Daanish School System was a conspiracy to destroy the public school system in the province.

Traffic outside the secretariat remained suspended for hours. Traffic Police spokesperson said about 50 wardens were deployed at the location for managing the flow of vehicles.

The Traffic DIG said police received no complaints of jam or blockade throughout the metropolis at their control room.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 25^th, 2017.