Education authorities: Teachers to stage sit-in at CM’s House today

Punjab Teachers’ Union claims members threatened with suspension and termination over protest.

LAHORE:

Public school teachers from across the province will march from Nasser Bagh to Chief Minister’s House today (Thursday) to demand that the government cancel plans to set up district education authorities (DEAs).

Government schools across the city are to suspend classes from 10am onwards. The Punjab Teachers’ Union has asked all its members to make their way to the protest site at that time. Teachers are to gather at Nasser Bagh in the morning, march to CM’s House and then stage a sit-in. They will stop along the way for brief sit-ins at Punjab University’s Old Campus, General Post Office Chowk and the Punjab Assembly.

In a statement issued here on Wednesday, the PTU said that the government had forced the teachers to protest as it was refusing to hold talks on the issue. Union officials said they expected some 20,000 teachers to attend the protest.



PTU General Secretary Rana Liaquat Ali told The Express Tribune that its members had been instructed not to attend any classes after 10am. He said that several teachers had been threatened with suspension or termination should they attend the protest.

Officials at the School Education Department and the EDO (Education) office were not available for comment. Earlier this month, Education EDO Pervez Akhtar said that the protest was premature. He said that the commission tasked with drawing up a framework for the DEAs had not even completed its work. He said that the teachers should wait till the functions of the DEAs are decided before protesting.

The PTU says that the DEAs will just result in more political interference in the assignments and posting of teachers at public schools.

The union has already held protests in Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan, Faisalabad, Bahawalpur, Gujrat and Pakpattan.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28^th, 2013.