Class over: Schoolteachers, students protest against government

Claim authorities have blocked further admissions at school for govt employees’ children.

PESHAWAR:

Students and teachers of Benevolent Public School, Kohat Road protested against the provincial government on Monday for what they claimed were moves aimed at closing down their school.

School principal Abu Zafar Hasan, while leading the protesters, said the government closed the girls section of the school in 2010 without any reason along with discontinuing the transport service of the institution. He added it is now bent on closing the boys high school by issuing orders to block further admissions. The government-run school only admits children of low-paid government servants.

The students were holding placards inscribed with slogans against the government.

Hasan said the school was set up in 1997 by the provincial government exclusively for the children of low-paid government officials. Hassan said the staff has been hired without any service structure. “Since 2008, no raise has been made in the salaries of teachers,” he said, adding, “Now only 300 students are left in the school.”

The government has declared an education emergency and instead of establishing more educational institutions, the government is issuing orders to close the ones that are operational, said Rabia, a teacher at the school. She said they are going to protest outside the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly till their demands are met.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 15^th, 2014.