After govt dilly-dallying, non-teaching school staff take to streets again

They had been given assurance their demands would be met, but saw no follow up from govt.

ISLAMABAD:

Hundreds of non-teaching staff of schools and colleges of the capital staged a sit-in outside the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) on Wednesday. The directorate had failed to follow up on promises made to them last month, they said.

On February 12, teaching and non-teaching staff protested near D-chowk and Capital Administration and Development Secretary Riffat Shaheen Qazi assured them of the solution of their demands “within one week”.

The week came and has since past but nothing happened.

This time they took to road outside the FDE building to record their protest. The demands include education allowances, time-scale promotions and the creation of new posts which they say are needed by educational institutions.

“We are still looking forward to the meeting of our basic demands even after the passage of three weeks,” said Khalil, who works at FDE as an upper division clerk.

Male and female staffers were sitting outside the main entrance of the directorate while the traffic to and from Karachi Company was disrupted and traffic officials were diverting vehicles on both ends.

Blaring speakers and scattered participants made the protesting crowd seem larger than it was.



Sadaqat Ahmed Dar, who works at Islamabad Model College for Commerce H-8/4, said it is sad to hear that when all employees at other government institutions and bodies have been regularised, a discriminatory attitude is meted towards all the education staffers in Islamabad.

Muhammad Aftab Abbasi, president of the Islamabad Model Colleges and Schools Employees Welfare Association, told The Express Tribune that this time they will not give in.

“Enough with the lies. Only a concrete decision will end this sit-in,” he said.

He was of the view that CAD announced 1,500 new seats at different educational institutions in the capital and a notification of this had been issued, “so why this farce?”

Taking advantage of the huge gathering ahead of elections, different MNAs and candidates for Islamabad’s national assembly seats addressed the participants.

Jamat-e-Islami member Mian Aslam, PML-N MNA Tariq Fazal Chaudhry and other local politicians arrived and assured the staffers of “every form of assistance and support”.

Aslam urged the protestors to stay united and said, “I will do my best to help you in this time of crisis”.

Chaudhry, who is sitting MNA for NA-49 Islamabad rural, said, “I will talk to Chaudhry Nisar [opposition leader in NA and senior PML-N member] to help you people solve this issue.”

In the evening Qazi, telephoned one of the members of the union and assured him that the demands would be met, but they refused to call off the strike and demanded a copy of the notification.

Qazi said she has informed them that the issue will be resolved, but a notification cannot be issued this quickly. “This is no way to protest…by jamming all the schools and colleges.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 7^th, 2013.