Unpaid Mohmand teachers boycott classes
Administration officials say they cannot pay the teachers unless govt reopens accounts
PHOTO: EXPRESS/ File
SHABQADAR:
Unpaid for three months teachers at two government schools in Mohmand district have started to boycott classes to protest against the administration. A similar boycott was observed in schools in Parachinar area of the Kurram tribal district.
As a result, over a thousand students in these schools have had to suffer.
Teachers in the Governor Model School in Ghallanai and Mamadgat areas of Mohmand started their boycott on Monday.
Demands: Gomal University teachers pitch protest camp
The teachers, who went to school but did not go into the classroom to protest, said that they had not been paid since July.
Muhammad, one of the protesting school teacher told The Express Tribune that the two schools were working under Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) secretariat. He added that the political administration was responsible for paying them.
The political administration used to pay their salaries and other requisite funds to schools using their own resources through the Agency Development Fund (ADF).
However, after the merger of the erstwhile Fata tribal agencies into Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), the old format of the political administration was abolished and converted into district commissions.
With the ADF a victim of the merger, the teacher said that the district administration no longer had any resources to pay salaries and other dues of the schools and funds were withheld since June.
In this regard, Muhammad said that they had staged a token protest last month which had forced Fata secretariat to issue funds sufficient to clear dues for June.
“Now, we do not even have money to travel to school,” the teacher said.
Another teacher, who only wished to be identified by his surname of Khan, said that they had met with the district administration to raise their concerns but were only told to be patient.
“They advised us to wait, but for how long?” He asked.
He added that over a thousand students are enrolled in the two model schools in the tribal district which offer education in English medium up to matriculation.
Moreover, he said that around 40 such schools operate across the tribal districts which used to be funded from ADF and staff there has not been paid since July.
Punjab Teachers’ union boycotts PEC’s examinations
A Mohmand district administration official dealing the matter told The Express Tribune that, after the merger of the tribal agencies into the province, the K-P chief secretary had directed to freeze all accounts, including those used to pay school dues.
The official, who did not wish to be named since he was not authorised to speak to the media, said that they have no authority to pay even a penny to anyone since they had no standard operating procedures (SOPs) for paying dues.
He added that administration officials visited the schools on Tuesday and assured the teaching faculty there that the matter will be raised before the additional chief secretary at the Fata Secretariat and Peshawar commissioner (who now oversees Mohmand since it is part of the Peshawar division) to resolve the issue.
He added that tribal district administrations are facing financial crises in all matters following the merger.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 26th, 2018.
Unpaid for three months teachers at two government schools in Mohmand district have started to boycott classes to protest against the administration. A similar boycott was observed in schools in Parachinar area of the Kurram tribal district.
As a result, over a thousand students in these schools have had to suffer.
Teachers in the Governor Model School in Ghallanai and Mamadgat areas of Mohmand started their boycott on Monday.
Demands: Gomal University teachers pitch protest camp
The teachers, who went to school but did not go into the classroom to protest, said that they had not been paid since July.
Muhammad, one of the protesting school teacher told The Express Tribune that the two schools were working under Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) secretariat. He added that the political administration was responsible for paying them.
The political administration used to pay their salaries and other requisite funds to schools using their own resources through the Agency Development Fund (ADF).
However, after the merger of the erstwhile Fata tribal agencies into Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), the old format of the political administration was abolished and converted into district commissions.
With the ADF a victim of the merger, the teacher said that the district administration no longer had any resources to pay salaries and other dues of the schools and funds were withheld since June.
In this regard, Muhammad said that they had staged a token protest last month which had forced Fata secretariat to issue funds sufficient to clear dues for June.
“Now, we do not even have money to travel to school,” the teacher said.
Another teacher, who only wished to be identified by his surname of Khan, said that they had met with the district administration to raise their concerns but were only told to be patient.
“They advised us to wait, but for how long?” He asked.
He added that over a thousand students are enrolled in the two model schools in the tribal district which offer education in English medium up to matriculation.
Moreover, he said that around 40 such schools operate across the tribal districts which used to be funded from ADF and staff there has not been paid since July.
Punjab Teachers’ union boycotts PEC’s examinations
A Mohmand district administration official dealing the matter told The Express Tribune that, after the merger of the tribal agencies into the province, the K-P chief secretary had directed to freeze all accounts, including those used to pay school dues.
The official, who did not wish to be named since he was not authorised to speak to the media, said that they have no authority to pay even a penny to anyone since they had no standard operating procedures (SOPs) for paying dues.
He added that administration officials visited the schools on Tuesday and assured the teaching faculty there that the matter will be raised before the additional chief secretary at the Fata Secretariat and Peshawar commissioner (who now oversees Mohmand since it is part of the Peshawar division) to resolve the issue.
He added that tribal district administrations are facing financial crises in all matters following the merger.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 26th, 2018.