Professors and teachers sprayed, tear-gassed away from CM House during protest

KARACHI:

The water cannon came out against teachers — again. Police lashed out with batons, tear-gas and water to stop college teachers from marching towards Chief Minister House on Tuesday.

Members of the Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association (SPLA) held a general body meeting at DJ College and later decided to march to CM House to present their demands. However, they were stopped and then attacked by the police just as they emerged from the college gate. The infuriated teachers fought back and pelted the police with stones. Soon they were forced to take shelter in the college.

The association announced they would observe a black day and boycott work in all government-run schools in the province.

SPLA leader Prof Muzaffer Rizvi said around 50 teachers were detained while dozens of others sustained injuries when the police started hitting them with batons.

Earlier, Professor Athar Hussain Mirza addressed the SPLA meeting and demanded the government promote college teachers from grade 17 to 18 and from grade 18 to 19. Posting orders should also be issued immediately, he said. Prof Mirza added that 414 college teachers were transferred on a ‘mala fide’ basis and their transfers should be cancelled. The Sindh government also has to fill 3,500 vacant posts for college teachers. He asked that the office of the Director-General Colleges be cancelled. Instead, the government should establish five directorates of college education, one each in Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Larkana and Mirpurkhas.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16^th, 2011.