The curse of unpaid wages

There is a national malaise that runs across the public and private sectors and is a significant brake on productivity and morale. It is the non-payment of wages to those that have delivered a service. It has been going on for decades and is often accompanied by prolonged sit-ins and strikes by those affected — many of whom are women — and nothing seemingly makes sufficient impact to, in any way, change this pernicious culture. The latest protest to gain headlines is by daily-wage teachers, the majority of them women, who have not been paid for 10 months and are now threatening to commit suicide along with their children in front of the apex court. There is about 1,800 teaching and non-teaching staff of public schools and colleges in Islamabad who have been protesting to no satisfactory conclusion. It is the government that owes them the money despite there being no shortage of funds in the education budget. Some 400 teachers are awaiting regularisation; their appointments have been approved by the federal cabinet, but they have not been allowed to join their postings.

Arrogance, contempt and corrupt greed underpin the non-payment of wages. Money which is unspent from the education budget is sitting in a bank account somewhere accruing interest that will be siphoned off periodically into the pockets of the provincial money managers, and is most unlikely to be recycled back into the parent budget.

Declarations of an ‘education emergency’ and a determination to address urgent educational needs across the land ring hollow in the face of incidents such as this. Pakistan needs tens of thousands of teachers, teachers who are paid in a timely manner, receive in-service training and educate a generation that is in desperate need if it is ever to find a place in a rapidly-evolving workplace. The prospect — and the possibility of it actually happening cannot be discounted — is truly horrific. Pay these people before they succumb to desperation.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 27^th, 2018.

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