Daily-wager teachers to observe Eidul Fitr without pay

Representatives claim school, college principals have deliberately delayed the release of payments

ISLAMABAD: Hundreds of teachers, who are working on a daily-wage basis in the capital’s schools and colleges, will be celebrating Eidul Fitr without any joy since they have not been paid. This despite an order from the top court to release their dues.

Nearly 1,200 daily-wage teaching staff in Islamabad, who had called off their four-month-long strike after the Supreme Court to directed to release their salaries, pending for five months.



But despite those orders, allocation of a budget and written orders from the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) to clear outstanding dues of the teachers, the money could not be released.

Former federal minister for Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, through the former finance minister Miftah Ismail, had released over Rs300 million for teachers. Of this, Rs150 million was paid last year.

A further Rs150 million were released to pay their salaries from January to May 31 this year.

With the teachers clamouring for their unreleased payments and directives from the court, the FDE in mid-May had written to the colleges to release salaries of teachers. The finance ministry too had asked all ministries and attached institutions to clear dues of all daily0-wage employees.

But teachers claim the principals have delayed the matter to seek vengeance for the four months the teachers skipped classes to demand their salaries and regularisation of posts.

The strike by hundreds of teachers had created problems for the principals since it impacted the academic sessions and annual exams.

“They [principals] exacted revenge by stopping our salaries,” claimed Rabia Waheed, a representative of daily-wage teachers.

The principals delayed the official procedure thus teachers could not get their salaries from the AGPR, she said, adding that only teachers of two colleges including the Islamabad Model College for Girls (IMCG) in Sector F-10/2 and the Islamabad Model College for Boys in Sector F-11/3 received their salaries while all others kept waiting for their checks to be released.

“Even the principal of IMCG Sector G-10/2, where I teach, did not sign on my paycheck until the second last working day to punish me because I was leading the protests and strike,” Waheed claimed.

Without pay for the past five months, the teachers say they are now penniless.



Waheed said that it was unfortunate that they did not get their dues in time to celebrate the festival well with their families or go back to their hometowns.

The teachers had remained on strike from January 9 to May 9, demanding the release of their salaries and regularization of their services.

They only called off the strike after CADD minister Chaudhry and Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) Director General Hasnat Qureshi took substantive measures to resolve their issues.

The former minister had not only helped release the budget for the salaries but also issued statements in favour of the teachers in the Islamabad High Court, where the teachers had filed an intra-court appeal against an earlier decision of the court which declared daily wage appointments as illegal.

The minister had also presented a summary for regularizing the daily-wage employees in the last meeting of the federal cabinet before the end of his tenure.  But the summary could not be approved since the matter was subjudice.

The teachers were regularised during the tenure of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government when thousands of employees of other ministries were regularized. However, teachers were not given their joining letters in their respective institutions.

The PML-N, though, refused to accept the regularization policy, asking them to appear before the Federal Public Service Commission exam to be regularized.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 15^th, 2018.