Teachers’ token strike begins

Teachers strike for issues such as promotion, service structure, time scale and seniority lists.

GILGIT: Teachers in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) announced a week-long token strike starting Tuesday to press for the acceptance of their demands. More than 10,000 government teachers in various schools in G-B’s seven districts will take part in the strike.

“From tomorrow onwards all teachers in G-B will wear black armbands in solidarity against the denial of their rights,” said President of G-B Teachers Association Shahid Hussain while addressing hundreds of teachers in Gilgit High School on Monday. “If our demands are not met in one week, we will be forced to boycott class as well,” he threatened.

He said that the promotion of teachers, service structure, time scale and seniority lists are some of the issues lingering on for over three decades. “There are teachers who haven’t been promoted for the past 30 years which is an injustice to them,” he said, adding that according to time scale, promotion of teachers, like other G-B government employees from grade 9 to 14 and 16 onwards are overdue but are yet to be ordered.

On progress in resolving core issues, he said that they have had rounds of meetings with the secretary education and the chief minister but no progress had been met.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 1^st, 2011.