Teachers want jobs or nothing at all

Teachers demand that the government give them permanent jobs instead of extending their current contracts.

HYDERABAD/KARACHI:

“Don’t give us extensions. Give us permanent jobs,” shouted a group of 80 teachers, whose three-year job contracts are expiring in July 2010. They gathered outside the Hyderabad Press Club on Sunday.

“Two thousand closed schools across Sindh were revived after we were inducted,” they claimed.

Nearly 7,495 teachers across Sindh were offered jobs by the Sindh education department in August 2008, after they passed entrance tests in September 2007.

The tests were conducted by the Institute of Business Administration, Sukkur, and candidates had to score at least 60 per cent to qualify for an interview.

Approximately 200,000 candidates appeared for the test for 7,500 posts of primary, junior and high school teachers.

The teachers demanded that the government give them permanent jobs instead of extending their current contract for a limited period.

Although their contracts would lapse on July 31, a notification was issued by the Sindh education secretary on Febraury 28, assuring the teachers that their terms will be extended.

“We don’t accept this [extension] because our jobs still won’t be secure,” said a protester. Muhammad Naeem, the demonstration leader, claimed that the contract teachers were being offered annual increments, a 20 per cent ad-hoc allowance and annual leaves similar to those given to teachers with permanent jobs.

“Why aren’t they giving us permanent jobs even after we passed the appointment tests,” asked Naeem.

Meanwhile, in Karachi, “Save merit, save education,” demanded members of the Karachi IBA Test Pass Teachers Action Committee at a protest outside the press club on Sunday. They said they wanted permanent jobs like the teachers in Punjab and other provinces.

“The government is extending our contracts instead of giving us permanent jobs, which is simply unacceptable,” said the senior vice chairperson of the committee, Syed Ahmed Shah.

Shah teaches English at BMB Government Boys Secondary School in Gulshan Town. According to him, these teachers have helped raise the quality of education over the past three years. “Now more children come for admissions at government schools because we [teachers] have helped raise the standard at our schools,” said Shah.

The committee’s Karachi chairperson, Muhammad Ishaq, said that most teachers will quit if they are not regularised.

“There is already a shortage of teachers and the education system is weak but we can’t help it. We will have to look for other jobs if our demands are not met,” he added. The protesters threatened to come out on the streets to protest if their demands are not met.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 25^th, 2011.