For seventh straight day: Teachers, non-teaching staff to continue boycott

The strike is affecting classes as they are not showing up for duty

ISLAMABAD: Teachers and non-teaching staff in about 20 schools and colleges in the capital will continue to boycott their duties today affecting classes of over 20,000 students.

The teachers are determined to continue their strike, claiming that the government officials had turned a deaf ear to their demands.

Regular staff of model schools and colleges in Islamabad had started their strike on Tuesday over delays in their promotion and upgrades. The daily wage staffs at these schools and colleges were already on strike since October 5 over non-payment of their dues.

The daily wage staff had staged a sit-in on October 25 in front of the Federal Directorate of Education wherein they were allegedly manhandled and arrested briefly by the Karachi Company police.

The teaching community had condemned the detention of teachers. They claimed that their protest was peaceful for their legitimate rights and such insulting and humiliating behaviour with teachers was never before witnessed in the capital, said Gayoor Hussain, an associate professor at IMCB F 8/4.



The teachers had sought stern action against the officials responsible for arresting the teachers and demanded that various issues faced by teachers of the model colleges must be addressed immediately so that academic activity can be resumed.

Although representatives of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of teachers were invited by the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) additional secretary on October 26 for talks, the meeting proved to be merely preliminary as the additional secretary was of the view involvement of CADD Minister Tariq Chaudhry was necessary to resolve the complex issues. The CADD official, however, assured representatives of the JAC that a meeting would soon be arranged with the minister.

A JAC representative said that teachers were motivated and determined to continue their strike till their demands were approved.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29^th, 2016.