Daily wage teachers’ woes: Salary to be released in next few days, says minister

ISLAMABAD:

The newly appointed minister of state for the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) has said that the salary to daily wagers of education institutions will be released in the next few days. Meanwhile, the government will also recruit about 2,000 new teachers to meet the shortfall.

CADD Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhary was speaking at a lunch arranged by the heads and teachers of the Islamabad Model Schools on Monday, at the school system’s Sector F-8/3 branch for boys.

“CADD has forwarded a summary of Rs1.4 million for salaries of daily wagers to the ministry of finance, and the issue will be resolved in the next few days,” he said. Interestingly, the summary has already been forwarded prior to the appointment of this minister.

Similarly, about the regularisation, he remarked that the ministry was waiting for recommendations of the regularisation committee before proceeding further.

Disappointed by the apathy of the government, teaching and non-teaching staff working on daily wages at federal and model educational institutes are outside the National Press Club to register their protest against non-payment of salaries.

The staffers have not been paid salaries since June this year, as CADD terms the induction of ghost employees and favouritism in appointment of these staffers as the main reason for the delay. For the last one week, the unpaid staffers have been marching towards D-Chowk and holding sit-ins, but to no avail. The boycott of academic activities and day-to-day affairs has circumvented academic activities in schools and colleges.

The minister was of the view that in next two years, the face of the education sector will be changed altogether.

“As per the vision of the prime minister, we will end the issue of missing facilities at schools, and improve teaching standards with training and ensuring quality standards,” Chaudhary said.

Rabia Waheed, one of the protestors from Islamabad Model College for Girls F-11/2 said these promises and announcements are not new, as they will only believe them when they are fulfilled.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 8^th, 2015.