Educators demand Covid package

Hundreds of teachers and parents participated in a demonstration calling for ‘Teacher Ko Izzat Do’ or give respect to teachers outside National Press Club on Sunday.

They paid tribute to the teachers and demanded a special package for the educators affected during the coronavirus lockdown. The Pakistan Private Schools and Colleges Association President Malik Abrar Hussain and Aman Taraqqi Party Chairman Muhammad Faiq Shah led the demonstration.

While addressing the protest, Hussain lamented that thousands of private schools were closed due to the coronavirus situation leading to millions of teachers losing their jobs. He added that the education minister had promised to provide interest-free loans to private schools, however, the promise was not fulfilled.

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The official further expressed that the educators are the architects of the future. He said that hundreds of teachers in Islamabad had not been regularised for the last 12 years. They should be made permanent as per the orders of Islamabad High Court and Cabinet Committee, he demanded.

The president stated that educators in Pakistan are not respected as in the rest of the world. He shared that Prime Minister Imran Khan had promised to bring improvement in the education sector, which has he has failed to do.

Hussain further called for revoking of first information reports against teachers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 25^th, 2021.