Demanding rights: Teachers march to the tune of time-scale promotions
Traffic on the busy Benazir Bhutto Road came to a halt as around 2,000 schoolteachers led a protest march on the highway on Wednesday. They were demanding the Punjab government to ensure time-scale formula for their promotion and basic facilities in public schools.
The schoolteachers, led by the United Teachers Punjab (UTP) Rawalpindi chapter, blocked the highway for over an hour, chanting slogans and holding placards in favour of their demands.
They also criticised the provincial government for introducing English as medium of education in government schools at all levels without adequately training the schoolteachers.
The protesters began gathering outside the Rawalpindi Press Club near Liaqat Bagh early in the day, staging a sit-in and making speeches, and later took out a protest march from outside the office of the Executive District Officer (EDO) Education.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Muhammad Najeeb Pasha, the district chairman of UTP Rawalpindi, said that apart from Punjab, all other provincial governments have ensured time-scale promotion for schoolteachers.
In Punjab, he said, schoolteachers are only considered for promotion after they improve their qualification, and if there is a vacancy.
As a result, there are numerous schoolteachers who have been serving in the same pay-grade for the last 15 years, he added.
During the protest, the teachers said that instead of making English the language of instruction and changing the syllabus of Islamiat and Social Studies, the provincial government should focus on providing basic facilities like toilets, furniture, drinking water plants and boundary walls.
They also demanded “an immediate end” of their non-teaching duties, which include administration of polio campaign, collecting census data and performing duties at polling stations.
The schoolteachers and representatives of UTP Rawalpindi chapter said that no official of the education department or the district government contacted them during the protest.
We have sent a charter of demands to the relevant authorities, a protesting teacher added.
Despite repeated attempts, the EDO could not be contacted for comments.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 29th, 2012.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ