Govt schools reopen after 18-day protest
Israr Ahmed, (R - 2nd row) was rescued from a stranded cable car, sits with other children in a classroom at a school in Battagram, August 23, 2023. PHOTO: REUTERS
Academic activities in government schools and colleges across Punjab will resume on Monday after an 18-day protest by the teachers for the acceptance of their demands regarding their service conditions.
The teachers’ leaders have requested all district unions to fully resume the academic activities and end their boycott.
The teachers’ union leaders also requested Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Maryam Nawaz to play a role to address the issues faced by them.
The boycott of academic activities took place after the teachers took to the streets in protest across the province over their concerns regarding leave encashment, school privatisation and other demands.
The teachers faced torture and arrests during the protest in Lahore and a number of other cities during the protests.
Read: Schools reopen as teachers end lockdown
The protest had been initiated under the leadership of the All Government Employees Grand Alliance, the Punjab Teachers Union (PTU) and Punjab Professors and College Lecturers Association. Thousands of employees participated in the protests.
The protests were marred by manhandling of teachers by the police, which drew condemnation from civil society groups.
Dozens of school and college teachers were thrashed, arrested and sent to jails in Lahore, where the arrested protesters included Punjab Professors and College Lecturers Association President Dr Tariq Kaleem.
The teachers and employees’ union representatives recently called on Maryam Nawaz who assured them that their issues would be resolved. Later, all the arrest teachers were released and the union leaders decided to end the boycott.
"Public sector college teachers will resume routine academic activities on Monday in all districts of Punjab. We were sent to jails during our protests and the arrests and torture was a painful incident. Now we are expecting positive developments as Maryam Nawaz has guarantees that our basic demands will be fulfilled,” Professor Tariq Kaleem told reporters.
He said 170 teachers and other government employees had been arrested during the protests and all of them had been released.
“Now we are hopeful regarding our demands. Our top demand is to stop the privatisation and handing over to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) of the schools. All college and schoolteachers have expressed their concerns against the privatisation of schools,” he said.
He welcomed an announcement by the caretaker Punjab chief minister that the authorities had no intention of privatising the schools.
Also read: Teachers defy govt warning, shut schools
“We were also given an assurance regarding our basic demand that our leave encashment and gratuity will not be affected. So we have ended our protest across the province for the time being,” he said. Professor Kaleem said, “We will be grateful to the PML-N if our demands are fulfilled, but if it does not happen then we have the right to protest. All the academic activities will resume on Monday.”
Punjab Teachers Union Secretary General Rana Liaqat Ali said the schoolteachers across the province would conduct classes and routine academic activities would resume in all districts.
He said the parents should send their children to the schools and the teachers should activity perform their supreme duty.
“Whatever happened with teachers in Punjab was a saddening incident of the province’s history. We will focus on our duty and mission while also requesting the authorities concerned that the teaches should not be forced to protest on the roads for the acceptance of their genuine demands,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 23rd, 2023.