Peshawar labour laws at school

A recent declaration to apply Peshawar’s labour laws to private educational institutions in the province, revoking earlier amendments to exclude them from abiding by the laws, is a relief for employees. This is a prudent move by the Peshawar High Court as it seeks to acknowledge the conflict of interest by members of the provincial government in that several are owners of private schools and colleges. There was injustice towards teachers and staff where their salaries were well below minimum wage requirements. Apart from the several implications, this would have on worker incentive and quality of instruction, the former amendments were ostensibly a way to cut costs without regard for employee well-being.

If we delve deeper into provincial and federal laws along with amendments introduced at various points on the timeline, we would find similar such cases where the reigning government at the time focused on benefiting its own ventures and thus paid most attention to the sectors its business incomes were most impacted by. It makes sense now that the 2015 Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Amendment Laws Act and the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Private Schools Regulatory Authority Act of 2017 were implemented to cut costs at assembly members’ private institutions. It is unfortunate that lawmakers took away the rights of employees and that it now seems unlikely that they can retrogradely demand the remainder of their rightfully-owed salaries.

The petitioner who went against these amendments is lauded for securing rights for the men and women working at these institutions. It has been a pattern in this country that workers are manipulated and paid meagre wages, which then forces them into vicious debt cycles and exhausting lifestyles working two jobs to make ends meet. Unjust practices have become the norm across provinces. Ethics are nil, and it is unfortunate that those provincial assembly members who adopted unethical practices are owners of educational institutions. This speaks volumes about the quality of institutions they are running with their philosophy of exploiting others and taking away their rights.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 14^th, 2018.

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