Teachers speak out: ‘Stop harassing us’

PTU said teachers were being dragged into non-teaching activities like taking surveys after school time.

LAHORE: Punjab Teachers Union (PTU) said Friday removal from service and stopping of annual increment over a day’s absence were against the law and violated the rights of teachers. Restrictions on casual, too, were a violation of human rights said PTU Central President Syed Sajjad Akbar Kazmi and other leaders including Rana Liaquat, Zafar Sandhu, Malik Saeed, Tariq Zaidi, Mian Arshad and Mirza Tariq in a joint statement issued here on Friday. They said teachers were being dragged into non-teaching activities like taking surveys after school time. A large number of teachers were engaged in performing vigilance duties during examinations while others were attending training sessions. This had hampered teaching, they said. The PTU leaders demanded that the chief minister take notice of anti-teacher policies in the province and make arrangements for providing a congenial atmosphere for teachings to protect the interests of students.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 9^th, 2013.