Teachers, clerks unite against school privatisation

Announce to stage protest sit-in outside Punjab Assembly on May 29

RAWALPINDI:

The teachers’ unions and All Pakistan Clerks Association (APCA) have announced to stage a sit-in outside the Punjab Assembly on May 29 against the impending privatisation of 13,000 government schools across the province.

Starting today [Wednesday], the protest demonstrations will be held outside schools while a strike was also observed on Tuesday. Teachers came to schools wearing black armbands as a form of protest.

Leaders of the Teachers Action Committee Rawalpindi Malik Amjad, Muhammad Shafiq Bhalwalia, Akhian Gul Tahir and Basharat Iqbal Raja said 130,000 teachers’ posts are vacant in government schools which lack basic facilities. Privatisation of schools will make education more expensive and fees will increase gradually. The valuable land of schools worth billions of rupees will be occupied.

Early summer vacations from May 25 have been done for the school privatisation programme. The government’s programme to sell public schools during the summer holidays will be thwarted.

Background

The teachers have been protesting on the appeal of the Joint Action Committee. All teachers and clerk organisations have been included in the Joint Action Committee.

The strike and protests have also affected the education system, while the government has decided to complete the sale of 13,000 government schools by June 20 and hand over the sold schools to new owners during the summer vacation.

As soon as the new owners take over, all government teachers involved in the protest will be replaced with new teachers, administration and security staff. Additionally, 567 schools with no teachers will be shut down, while 2,700 other schools which have only one teacher, will be merged with other schools.

The first phase of privatisation happened during the tenure of former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government, and while the new government had promised to not continue with the plan, they have back paddled on their oaths.

Sources in the education department said that after the privatisation phase, the rationalisation of teacher layoffs is also being started. The processes of privatisation and layoffs will be completed and implemented by August 14, during which teachers will also be transferred.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 22^nd, 2024.