Fund-raising match: Schools ‘asked’ to purchase tickets

Each private school and college told to buy tickets worth Rs5,000 and Rs10,000 respectively.

RAWALPINDI:

Administration has asked the government as well as the private schools in Rawalpindi division to buy tickets for a cricket match to raise funds for the internally displaced persons (IDP).

The fundraiser is scheduled between Shahid Afridi-XI and Hamza Shahbaz-XI at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Friday.

The administration has tasked the executive district officers (EDO), chairman Rawalpindi Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) and assistant commissioners (AC) to sell the match tickets.

All Pakistan Private School Management (APPSM) President Ibraar Ahmad Khan told The Express Tribune that the administration has given about 1,000 tickets to EDOs in Rawalpindi division and chairman BISE to sell them on to private schools.

He said that the private schools have been directed to buy tickets of at least Rs5000 each while every private college will have to buy tickets of Rs10,000. The education department has directed its staff to collect money from the all the private schools in Rawalpindi, Jhelum, Attock and Chakwal districts.

The APPSM also raised the issue in a meeting with Punjab Secretary Schools Abdul Jabbar Shaheen but in vain. “We are being forced to give the money. This is an unjust behavior on part of the administration and the education department,” he added.

In addition to match tickets, lecturers and professors of the government colleges have been told to donate money for the IDPs.

A lecturer of a government college, who did not want to be named, told The Express Tribune that the authorities have asked lecturers to submit Rs1,000 each while every professor will donate Rs1,500 for the IDPs. He said the teachers are being forced to contribute the money.

A female teacher of a government high school who requested not to be named said the head of her school has asked all teachers to submit Rs500 each. She said the department has given 10 tickets each to school heads to sell them on among the staff.

Punjab Educators Union Rawalpindi Chapter President Muhammad Basharat Iqbal said the teachers resisted the decision in a meeting with the DCO that the children will not be able to buy the tickets. “Then it was decided that the teachers will buy tickets instead of the students.”

The assistant commissioners have also been directed to sell the match tickets to traders as well. The Punjab Teachers Union Rawalpindi Chapter President Raja Shahid Mubarik said the administration has provided 2,000 tickets worth Rs1,000,000 to the EDO education to sell them on among the teachers.

“Tickets were given to schools according to the strength of teachers at each school. The school heads are now forcing teachers to buy the tickets,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18^th, 2014.