The district chapter of All Primary Teachers Association (APTA) took out a rally on Thursday to record their protest against ad hoc based recruitments and political interference in education department.
APTA’s Provincial Vice President Shafiq Ahmad and local president Haji Abdul Rahim led the rally which started from Eidgah and converged on Kargil Chowk. Primary schoolteachers who participated in the rally carried placards and banners and they raised slogans in favour of their demands.
Speaking on the occasion the APTA leaders asked the government to stop political meddling and influence of nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) in the affairs of education department. They also asked the provincial government to avoid implementing cluster system in the primary education and stop recruitment of teachers on ad hoc basis.
“We reject the cluster system and ad hoc based appointment of teachers as such moves will prove detrimental for the primary education”, they maintained. The teachers’ leaders also made clear that primary schoolteachers would not perform polio duty by force. “The teacher community is not against the polio eradication campaigns but to engage them in the anti-polio drives at a time when annual examinations are near is not good for the education of children,” they told. They demanded of the provincial government to restore teacher’s son quota and upgrade primary schoolteachers having matriculation to the next higher scales. They also demanded of the government to control price hike and enhance salaries in proportion to the recent inflation.
Source: The Nation.
