NMD teachers go unpaid for months

Few could blame tribespeople of hoping for improvements in crucial sectors, such as education, after their areas were merged into the province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. As time went on, however, these aspirations faded into oblivion, seemingly like the salaries of primary schoolteachers who have been unpaid for several months.

Recruited on a contractual basis in 2019, the teachers have been in dire straits for a prolonged period spanning the last two years. Talking to The Express Tribune, an official of the Elementary Education Department said that around 2,700 male and female schoolteachers were hired on the Parent-Teacher Councils' (PTCs) recommendation to overcome the shortage of staff at primary schools across the former Federal Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

"Male and female teachers were recruited on the recommendation of PTCs in schools where there were no teachers at all, or only one or two. They were hired on a contractual basis on a fixed salary," he said. He bemoaned that some of them had not been paid for two years and the quarters concerned paid no attention to this situation.

"There are male and female teachers who have not been paid for nine months and some have not been paid for the past three months, but majority have not been paid for nine months," he said. He continued that 2,700 teachers helped overcome the shortage of schoolteachers in Bajaur, Khyber, Mohmand, Orakzai, Kurram and Waziristan and their services are considered vital.

On Sunday, PTC teachers announced that they should be paid their salary and dues by September 7 otherwise they would announce a complete boycott of classes.

"If our demands are not fulfilled, then a strike will be observed and rallies will be organised on the district and provincial level," said a teacher, requesting anonymity.

The All-Female PTC Teachers Association demanded that K-P Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, as well as the education minister and secretary, solve their problems on a priority basis.