Union tactics: Teachers to not to boycott exam duties

The PTU says they will continue to protest the proposed DEAs.

LAHORE:

A meeting of the Punjab Teachers Union decided on Wednesday not to boycott the grade 5 and grade 8 examinations.

The PTU has been protesting against plan for district education authorities under the Punjab Local Government Act 2013. It had earlier announced that it was considering boycotting the examinations held under the Punjab Examination Commission. The examinations are scheduled to start in February.

The meeting of the central executive body of the PTU was held at the Government Muslim Model High School in Urdu Bazaar.

PTU general secretary Rana Liaquat Ali said 75 per cent votes had been against boycotting the examinations.



“We were considering boycotting the examination but a large number of members were of the view that it would do more harm than good,” he said.

He said the PTU would continue to pursue agitation against the government for not taking back its decision regarding the DEAs.

He said a protest rally would be held in Lahore in April.

He said there would be another rally in Islamabad in May.

He said a three-member committee comprising senior vice president Chaudhry Sarfaraz, chief election commissioner Muhammad Zafar Sandhu and general secretary Imtiaz Abbasi had been formed to finalise the protest schedule by the first week of February.



PTU officials said the meeting was marred by concerns from a large number of members who claimed that boycotting the examinations would generate a bad image for the union and its protest against the DEAs.  They said boycotting the examinations would cause loss of public support for the protest series.

The PTU launched a wave of protests in August, demanding the government to roll back its plan for the DEAs and absolve teachers of non-academic duties.

Earlier, Education Minister Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan had told The Express Tribune that if teachers boycotted the PEC exams, they would be replaced.

But the PTU general secretary said the union under no pressure from the government.

He said the decision was made in accordance with the popular view.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 23^rd, 2014.