Police baton-charge teachers, arrest PTI MPA

The teachers had earlier been told that their services were no longer needed

KARACHI: Police baton-charged protesting teachers from five districts and arrested several of them in a bid to stop them from marching towards Chief Minister House Monday. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) member of Sindh Assembly Raja Azhar Khan was also arrested by police for leading the march into the 'red zone'.

The Early Childhood Education Teachers (ECETs), who have been staging a sit-in and hunger strike for the last 29 days, tried to march towards the CM House but the police restricted them from entering the red zone. After a tussle with the law enforcement agencies, Khan, along with the teachers, started marching towards Pakistan Arts Council Chowk, near the Sindh Assembly Building.

Police arrested Khan and several teachers for crossing into the restricted area. At least two teachers were injured during the tussle between the protesters and the Sindh Police personnel.

Addressing the protesters at their camp set up outside the Karachi Press Club (KPC) on Monday, Khan said that the teachers were being deceived by the provincial government. "Therefore, we have decided to march towards the CM House to record our protest," he said. He demanded the chief minister to respect the teachers and immediately accept their demands.

The issue

Around 300 teachers, including 150 female teachers, were hired on a contractual basis in 2009. The teachers were recently informed that their services were no longer required by the education department, after which the teachers had set up a protest camp outside the KPC. The protesters belong to five districts of the province - Ghotki, Khairpur Mirs, Naushahro Feroze, Tando Mohammad Khan and Badin.

The teachers' representatives have also held meetings with top officials of the Sindh Education Department and were informed that their matter was under discussion. The teachers and Khan were later released by police.

Vaccinators' protest

Meanwhile, vaccinators who passed the National Testing Service (NTS) test also marched towards the CM House but police checked their movement near the KPC and held several for attempting to enter the red zone.

The protesters said that 1,700 candidates have passed the NTS but the health department has not issued their employment letters. They said that meetings have been held with the health secretary and letters were also written to them but not a single job offer letter has been issued so far. The protesters demanded the Sindh government and Pakistan Peoples Party leadership to address their issue on an urgent basis. 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 6^th, 2019.