Govt to decide fate of protesting teachers in meeting today

Hunger strike to continue till guarantee given in writing, say teachers

KARACHI: Primary school teachers continued on Wednesday their hunger strike outside the Karachi Press Club. Despite the government’s claim that their issues will be resolved by making the teachers’ jobs permanent, the teachers have not budged.
Primary Teachers Association (PTA) President Shafi Muhammad Sathiyo said, “Whenever we protest, the government comes up with the same rhetoric. No one is willing to commit in writing that these issues will be resolved.”
Karachi Commissioner Ejaz Ahmed Khan approached the protesters and negotiated with them. He assured them that the government would issue a notification on the regularisation of more than 22,000 teachers and 15,000 primary teachers will be promoted to gradee-16.


"The commissioner has promised that the chief minister will meet our demands today [Thursday],” said Sathiyo. “If our issues are not addressed, we will continue the hunger strike till our death,” he warned. He also mentioned that chief minister said the teachers were protesting on the directives of a political party. “Such statements hurt our sentiments even more,” he said.
In the aftermath of Monday’s protest where the teachers were assaulted by the police, Pakistan Peoples Party Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari took notice of the situation and asked the chief minister to urgently resolve the issue. While the police released the 150 detained teaching staff, no one from the education department came to their aid.
“Around 400 teachers are protesting, of which 50 have gone on a hunger strike,” said a senior PTA member Agha Babu Khan Durrani. “There is no potable water or toilet facility at my school in Shikarpur district where I have been teaching for the last 20 years,” he added. According to Durrani, the school buildings in most of the districts are on the verge of collapse and despite spending tens of thousands of rupees, schools are still deprived of basic facilities.



A spokesperson of the education department said that the chief minister has called for a meeting today (Thursday) where the teachers’ demands will be discussed. “The government may summon the assembly session to pass the law in order to regularise teachers, but it will be decided in the meeting,” he said.
Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz-Bashir (JSQM-B) Chairperson Sanan Khan Qureshi, Amjad Mahesar, Kehar Ansari and Ameer Hassan Pahnwer of Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz-Aresar (JSQM-A) and other civil and human rights activists also joined the protest and expressed unity with the protesters.