Teachers protest outside assembly on its last day

Since their appointments in 2012, they have not received salaries

KARACHI: A protest was staged on Monday by school teachers recruited by the provincial government in 2012 outside the Sindh Assembly building during its last session .

The protesting teachers, who also included many women, demanded that the outgoing lawmakers accept their demands. Two of the teachers were also reported to have fallen unconscious due to the scorching heat.

Since their appointments in 2012, the teachers have not received salaries.

A heavy contingent of police barred the demonstrators from entering the premises of the assembly as both its gates were shut.



The teachers held banners and chanted slogans for their demands. They lamented that the government did not keep its commitments and their salaries had yet to be restored. "The chief minister has restored the teachers recruited on May 21, 2012," a protester maintained, adding that "the provincial education department has taken no practical measures in this regard".

Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly reached the protesting teachers and met New Teachers Action Committee Chairperson Abu Bakr Abro and Sindh Teachers Association Chairperson Zuhair Ahmed Baloch. The teachers' leaders informed Hasan that the chief minister had restored the teachers and issued directives for the release of their salaries in an official document.

"If jobs given by the school education department were bogus, the teachers should have been stopped from rendering their services then and there," Hasan said while speaking to the media. "The leaders of Sindh are boastfully claiming about the provision of jobs in the province, but here we see that teachers are being terminated," he remarked.



The opposition leader claimed that teachers and paramedic staff had been looking forward to him as he had always been vocal about their issues. He added that he would continue to speak for the rights of teachers and paramedic staff.