Working conditions: Teachers announce two-day boycott of work

This is the second protest by the teachers in five months.

LAHORE:

The Punjab Teachers Union announced a two-day boycott of duties on Thursday after negotiations with authorities did not produce an agreement.

Earlier, hundreds of teachers from across the province protested in front the Civil Secretariat.

This was the second protest rally in the city organised by the PTU in five months.

The protesting teachers marched from Nasser Bagh to Civil Secretariat at 10 am and at 12 pm, staged a protest sit-in outside the Civil Secretariat.

Similar protests were held in several districts on the call of the PTU.

Roads leading to the Civil Secretariat were blocked by the police. Entrance to the secretariat was also heavily guarded.

Protestors carrying placards sat on the road in front of the secretariat and chanted slogans against the government.

Talking to The Express Tribune, primary school teacher Abida Batool Zaidi said the government had failed the teachers.

“It is as if they intentionally want to create hurdles and difficulties for us. It is as if they want to victimise us,” she said.



The government’s policy to rationalise teachers as per their need in schools is also being challenged by teachers who claim it is being implemented randomly and “inconsiderately.”

Aneela Aslam, a teacher at the Government Girls High School at Dullo Khurd, rejected the policy.

“Teachers who have been teaching at the same schools for several years are being sent to far flung areas,” she said.

Aslam said she had been sent another school but had refused to go.

“I cannot afford to commute that far. I have no money to travel so far away from home on such short notice,” she said. Other protestors claimed the government’s policy of slapping fines, approval for casual leave, allocating duties for door-to-door surveys and putting a hold on increments owing to poor results and students’ attendance was “unfair.”  “To get approval for a casual leave, we are now required seek permission from either the EDO or the DEO. Previously we required sanction from our head master,” said PTU official Abdul Waheed Abbasi from Kasur.

PTU general secretary Rana Liaquat Ali said the government had failed to regularise around 40, 000 contractual teachers.

He said the government had assigned enrolment duties to teachers again and had demanded they ensure 100 per cent results in classes.

He said the teachers were required to ensure a high student attendance in the classroom, failing which they were fined.

A meeting between the School Education Department officials and the central president of PTU Sajjad Akbar Kazmi was held as teachers staged a protest on Thursday afternoon.

After the meeting, instructions were sent to district coordination officers, executive district officers and district monitoring officers across the province seeking replies regarding teachers’ complaints within a week.

Matters pertaining to casual leaves, non-educational duties and accountability on account of poor results were also discussed with additional secretary general at SED Ahmed Ali Kamboh.

The PTU later called for a two-day boycott of academic activities from today (Friday).

Rana Liaquat Ali said the union was “not satisfied” with the talks. The PTU has called a meeting of its central executive committee on April 14.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 4^th, 2014.