Public education: ‘Won’t allow transfer of schools to Daanish Schools Authority’

Union threatens to again take to the streets if the decision not reversed

LAHORE: “The government’s decision to hand over public schools to Daanish Schools Authority is unacceptable. Teachers will take to the streets if the government does not quash these plans,” a statement issued by the Punjab Teachers’ Union (PTU) said on Sunday.

Two factions of the PTU released statements to respond to a recent government announcement that 13 schools would be handed over to the authority.

Earlier, both groups had protested against the government’s move for what they called privatisation of public schools.

They had staged sit-in on The Mall for several days as part of the protest. Both statements said that the government was violating rules in its move to hand over schools to the authority.

They said schools with 90 per cent results in the Punjab Examination Commission (PEC) exams and having 1,500 to 3,000 students were been given to Daanish Authority.

“The government had assured us that schools would not be privatised. Despite this, scores of public schools were being handed over to the Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) and the Daanish Authority. They said Daanish Schools was a failed experiment of the government.

The PTU urged the government to not hand over the schools to the Daanish Schools Authority.

They said the Schools Education Department should take charge of these schools.

They said if the government did not reverse its plans, the teachers would take to the streets to protest.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 13^th, 2016.