Police beat up teachers yet again

This is the third time that teachers, who are demanding regularisation of their jobs, have been beaten

KARACHI: For the third time in as many months, government school teachers were beaten and several of them detained by police as they tried to march towards the Sindh Assembly on Friday. To disperse the charged crowd, which comprised hundreds of protesting teachers, police personnel started beating them with batons and used water cannons. At least 14 teachers were injured during the clash, while around 70 were detained.

The teachers, who set up their camp outside the Karachi Press Club on December 9, marched towards the Sindh Assembly Building as their leaders' negotiations with the education department's officials, including its Secretary Ahsan Mangi, failed earlier in the morning.

The teachers, marching under a one-point charter of demand for the regularisation of their contracts, attempted to stage a sit-in in front of the assembly. The protesters claim they have passed the tests held by the University of Sindh, Iqra University and National Testing Service but they haven't been regularised yet. On Friday, the protesters, who hail from various districts of Sindh, assembled on Deen Muhammad Wafai Road but their path towards the Sindh Assembly building was blocked with a container.

A few dozen teachers managed to cross the container while their colleagues joined them at the main gate by walking through alternative streets and roads. They staged a sit-in outside the assembly and shouted the slogans in favour of their demands.

IN PROTEST: Teachers demanding regularisation continue protest for third day

"There are over 10,000 teachers who need to be regularised," said Babu Laghari, a teacher from Golarchi. He told The Express Tribune that it was the second time the teachers had been tortured, disrespected and arrested. "We just demand regular jobs," he said. "We wanted to register our protest before the lawmakers but were badly treated," he added.

Laghari said that the police also tortured and misbehaved with female teachers participating in the march and sit-in. "We will not go back until our demands are met."

Opposition steps in

Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MPA Raja Azhar and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan MPA Abdur Rasheed arrived on the spot and joined the teachers in their protest.

PTI's Azhar told the media that they would stand beside the teachers. "The Sindh government will have to pay the price of this brutality on the teachers," he warned, adding that the teachers were disrespected through the use of force by the police. "We will not let this injustice happen with the teachers," he remarked.

The protesters went back to their camp outside the Karachi Press Club and announced to continue the protest till the release of the arrested teachers and approval of their demand of regularisation. The protesters say that they have been serving in the Sindh Education Department after passing the NTS in 2010 but are not being regularised despite several promises. The number of affected teachers stands at more than 6,000.

Later, the arrested teachers, being kept at different police stations, were released on the instructions of the Sindh government.

Not the first time

Earlier, the teachers, who have been protesting for this one demand for the past several months, were beaten by the police on September 16 and then again on December 9. 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 21^st, 2019.