Last chance: Teachers at Gomal University demand payment of due salaries

Say they will be forced to take to the streets if they are not compensated soon.

DI KHAN:

Non-payment of salaries has brought members of Gomal Teachers Welfare Forum on the verge taking action.

“We are not demanding extra money but not clearing our dues is injustice,” said the forum’s president Professor Dr Amanullah Akhter at a news conference in Dera Ismail Khan on Saturday.

Dr Akhter said teachers of grade 16 to grade 22 at Gomal University have not been paid their salaries since months and the government should immediately announce a ‘Special Financial Package’ for the purpose.

He said the pay-scale was revised in 2011, resulting in a 50% increase in gross pay and medical allowance. In 2012, there was a 10% increase in the university’s fiscal budget and 20% rise in salaries, however, none of these funds have been released yet, he added. Also, the budget was cut by 30% this year, resulting in a significant deficit in the university’s finances.

Also speaking on the occasion, Gomal Teachers Welfare Forum General Secretary Professor Dr Shakil said teachers are to stay in classrooms, but the government’s attitude is forcing them to take to the streets.

“We are getting offers from foreign universities, but are not leaving as we want to serve the youth back here,” he said. “There are alternates to lack of gas and power, but not to education. And the dream of education is futile without teachers, who are being discriminated against and treated unjustly.”

Despite not getting salaries, Dr Shakil said teachers will not boycott classes and will continue as per schedule. However, the professor said if their demands are not catered to in two weeks, they will head to Peshawar and Islamabad with their children to present their case to higher authorities.

“If efforts are not made to save Gomal University, it will negatively impact the nation, which can only be saved by bringing peace through education,” said Dr Shakil.

Executive members of Gomal Teachers Welfare Forum, Ehsanullah Danish and Dr Anamul Haq, along with other university officials were also present at the news conference.

Meanwhile, Gomal University’s teaching staff convened a protest rally under the banner of Gomal Teachers Welfare Forum in front of the main gate of the university’s City Campus.

Gomal University’s various departments’ chairpersons, professors, assistant professors and lecturers participated in the protest, holding banners and placards inscribed with demands like ‘pay salaries to the teachers’ and ‘save the future of students’.

Gomal University is not only serving as an institution for those in DI Khan; many Saraiki-speaking students and those from the tribal areas, particularly Waziristan, also study there.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 8^th, 2013.