Protest: Teachers set up hunger strike camp

BAHAWALPUR:

Several primary school teachers on Friday gathered at a hunger strike camp established by the Primary Elementary Teachers’ Association (PETA) to protest against the government’s decision to establish district education authorities.

This would politicise the education department and destroy the system, a protester said.

PETA members gathered at City Chowk, Rahim Yar Khan, after Friday prayers. Primary Elementary Teachers’ Association central president Muhammad Mazhar Iqbal Chattha was among the participants. Several protesters hung dry chapattis around their necks and chanted slogans.

They also protested against the suspension of annual promotions for teachers. They said the district education authorities would allow the government to discriminate against teachers on account of political affiliations. The withdrawal of conveyance allowance for teachers would hurt them financially, the protesters said.

Rasheed Naqshbandi, Shabbir Abbasi and Primary Elementary Teachers’ Association district president Asif Akhtar, too, spoke at the hunger camp.

They said they might have to resort to a boycott of work if the government did not address their concerns. Akhtar said they would take out a rally in this regard on November 6.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 27^th, 2013.