Anti-polio campaign: Five female teachers suspended for evading duties

Claim they were not given security or transport to operate in far flung areas.

SWAT:

Five female teachers have been suspended for not performing their duties during an ongoing four day anti-polio campaign here. According to local sources, following the Malala incident, five teachers from Matta Tehsil, refused to perform their duties of administering polio drops to children.

On this, District Coordination Officer (DCO) suspended them under Efficiency and Disciplinary Rules 2011. “Any laxity in the campaign will not be entertained and strict action will be taken against all those government servants who refuse to perform duties or create any hindrances. Our sole aim is to maintain Swat as a polio-free zone,” DCO Kamran Rehman told The Express Tribune. He added that an inquiry team had been formed and a charge sheet was issued against all the teachers.

Meanwhile, civil society members have appreciated the move. “The decision taken by the DCO is right as these refusals could have been reinforced by other teachers,” said Murad Ali, a civil society member.

On the directives of the district government, education and health departments assigned the female teachers of government educational institutions to conduct the anti-polio campaign. However, five teachers expressed reluctance to do so, saying it was not possible for them to go to far flung and dangerous areas to inoculate children.

“All of us teachers realise that polio drops are indispensable but the areas where we were assigned to administer polio drops are not only remote but also risky for female strangers. The government did not provide us any security or transport,” said a teacher requesting anonymity. She added that the teachers had to spend heavy expenses on transport and walk long distances to perform their door-to-door duties.

The campaign was started on October 15 and as many as 1,097 teams were formed to administer polio drops to 421,965 children in 65 union councils.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 18^th, 2012.