School privatisation protests heat up

The protest movement against the privatisation of government schools has gained momentum across Punjab including Rawalpindi. The students of the government schools have also started protesting on the streets, while the District Tehsil Bars of Lawyers have also declared their full support to the teachers' movement against the privatisation of government schools.

Against the dismissal of employees and change in leave encashment pension rules, the employees of all government institutions of the Rawalpindi Division have also announced further protest strikes and demonstrations. Teachers will also observe October 5 as "Salam Teachers' Day" and the black day.

Protests and lockouts in government schools across the province, including the Rawalpindi division, have so far continued, paralysing the teaching system of government schools. Students kept playing in schools and later went to their homes while shouting protest slogans at the school gate and on roads.

Students of government schools in Rawalpindi district also took to the streets, raised slogans against the privatisation and announced that they would not let the contractors take over the schools.

Bars of Rawalpindi Jhelum, Chakwal District and Sohawa Tehsil also went on strike against the privatisation of government schools and demanded an immediate stop to the privatisation. The Teachers Grand Alliance placed mats to protest in government schools. Schools' staff rooms were also closed, while examinations in government schools and dengue campaign were also halted.

The Punjab government will sell 20,000 state schools by March 31, 2025.

District Bar Rawalpindi president Intizar Mehdi Shah and Jhelum District Bar president Chaudhary Mohammad Umar Zarif said that the privatisation of government schools would destroy the education system and increase fees by 500%. The doors of the schools would be closed for the children of the poor, they feared.

Leaders of the Teachers Alliance, Malik Amjad, Basharat Raja and Shafiq Bhalwalia said that the Punjab government was destroying the education system while hatching a conspiracy. Due to the privatisation of schools, the new phase of admissions in government schools failed miserably as from August 14 to September 30, there were no new admissions in 70% of the schools, they said, adding there were only a few admissions, while the number of students leaving schools had also started to increase.

Meanwhile, the students' council formed by the government in government schools has also rejected the privatisation of government schools, terming them as anti-students and demanding the withdrawal of the decision.