Demands met: Lecturers end two-week strike after salaries raised

Educators blame govt for wasting their time, teachers to resume work from Friday.

PESHAWAR: Teacher and employee associations of four universities called off their strike on Thursday following an announcement of a 20% increase in their salaries.

Teachers associations and class-IV and class-III employees of the University of Peshawar, Agriculture University, Engineering University and Islamia College were on strike for the past two weeks protesting the non-implementation of their allotted salary raise.

Addressing the gathering of all universities’ employees at Islamia College, Teachers Association President Jamil Ahmad said that he had received the conveyance allowance, salary allowance and an adhoc teachers salary allowance notification issued by the vice chancellor (VC) of the UoP early Thursday morning. He urged the teachers and employees now return to their regular work and ensure they catch up on all work they have missed during the two-week protest.

On this occasion, Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association President Humayun Khan, said that after a successful meeting held with the vice chancellors of all universities they would resume their routine activities from Friday. He thanked Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and the media for taking notice of the issue and highlighting their problems.

Teachers Staff Association President, Fasail Shahzad, blamed the vice chancellors and the government for wasting their and their student’s time by delaying the implementation of the increment in their salaries. All universities’ employees president, Salahudin Ahmed, also criticised the government saying that it was the government that compelled them to stop their work in education and protest.

The decision to implement the salary increase was taken in a meeting with the Higher Education Provincial Minister Qazi Assad, the Chief Secretary Gulam Dastageer Akhtar and vice chancellors of all public sector universities on Wednesday, in accordance with the government’s announcement three months ago, which raised salaries of universities employees by 20%.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12^th, 2012.