No pay, no work: Students suffer as daily wage teachers stage partial strike

Education staff in capital’s schools, colleges say they will continue partial boycott today

ISLAMABAD: Students in nearly two dozen schools and colleges in Islamabad had to miss out on some of their classes after hundreds of daily wage education staff observed a partial strike on Monday to protest non-payment of their dues for the last four months.

The striking staffers said that they will continue with their partial boycott today (Tuesday) and on Wednesday they will go on a complete strike to coincide with World Teacher’s Day.

Over 1,500 teaching and non-teaching staff employed by the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) under the Capital Administration and Development (CADD) in 21 schools and colleges in the capital have not been paid their dues since June. Staffers hired on daily wage basis have also been struggling to get their services regularised for the last three years.

In the new 2016-17 budget, salaries for labourers have been fixed at Rs14,000.



The Senate had on September 9  passed a unanimous resolution to regularise services of daily-wage staffers. However, the issue of releasing their salaries is still pending.

These daily wage staffers had warned the administrative authorities that unless they are paid by the end of September, they would start boycotting their duties from October 1.

On Monday, teachers only took half of their assigned classes.

“We did not take four [of our assigned] periods because you cannot teach when you have no money to run the kitchen for the last four months,” one striking teacher complained. She added that the girls college in I-10/4 where she works has around 800 students enrolled in the evening shift with only one regular teacher employed for them.

The worst affected educational institute, however, was the Model College where most of the teachers, especially those in the evening shift, work on daily wages.

The strikes come at an inopportune time with second term exams scheduled to be held in November.

No money yet

“Salaries of the staff working on daily wage basis come from supplementary grants and it is usually delayed,” explained Tariq Mauj, the joint secretary at the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) who has been overseeing educational affairs in Islamabad.

Last year too, he said, their salaries were delayed. Like then, he explained that the finance ministry had once again rejected their summary for a supplementary grant in the first quarter of the fiscal year.

“We are going to move it [supplementary grant summary] again,” he said, hoping that they would be able to secure the ministry’s approval this time with funds for the salaries expected to be released in November.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 4^th, 2016.