EST teachers demand promotion

Teachers under Federal Government Educational Institutions Cantonments Garrisons demand upgrade to grade-16

RAWALPINDI:

Elementary School Teachers (ESTs) working in educational institutions under the Federal Government Educational Institutions Cantonments Garrisons Directorate have demanded of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif to upgrade their position to grade-16.

ESTs working in 355 educational institutions under the FGEI Cantonment Garrison Directorate across the country have demanded to upgrade their position from grade-14 to grade-16. They said that they have been waiting for a promotion for years.

According to the teachers, along with the up-gradation, they should be given three to five additional annual increments. They said that the same facility should be given to all TGT and SST teachers as well as to honorary teachers.

The teachers said that the formula developed by the Federal Government Educational Institutions Cantonment Garrison Directorate for the promotion and induction of EST teachers is 25 per cent for promotion and 75 per cent for recruitment of new teachers which was unjust. Due to this, thousands of teachers have been waiting for promotion for the last 16 years while recruitment of new teachers is going on every year.

According to the teachers, FGEIs Directorate has not promoted EST teachers since 2007. By the year 2022, hundreds of new teachers have been recruited, thus depriving thousands of teachers of their basic rights. Teachers Farhat Abbas, Malik Gulzar Ahmad, Arif Abbasi, Osama Mumtaz Qureshi and others said that inflation in the country has risen to such an extent that they have not been able to make both end meet with their current salary. They said EST teachers have also been ignored in the four-tier formula which was cruelty.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 13^th, 2022.