Daily Times

PESHAWAR: More than 500 protesting teachers of the Working-Folks Grammar Schools, hailed the call for a General Body Meeting (GBM) by the Provincial Minister for Labour as a step towards achieving their demands for payment of salaries and regularization of contract staff.

The teachers belonging to some 48 Working-Folks Grammar Schools from across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) gathered outside the residence of Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) Chief and ex-Chief Minister NWFP Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao on Thursday, to thank for the concern shown by Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli, Provincial Minister for Labour.

Teachers have been staging protests for almost last one year as the fate of about 2,300 teachers on contract basis is still in murky waters despite the end of their extension on June 30 earlier this year.

Anisa Zeb, who is also a member of the QWP visited the protesters and after listening their demands, she promised that a General Body Meeting (GBM) of all 58 members of WWB will be called on September 28 in order to address the demands.

She told the protesters that there were reservations about a number of teachers who had allegedly acquired jobs due to their political affiliations, they had either passed their exams in 3rd division or were above the maximum age limit at the time of their recruitment. At least 1,700 contract teachers will benefit from this decision if it were implemented.

The agitating teachers were led by Salman Humayun, President Workers Welfare Board (WWB) Open Union, who informed Daily Times that they will wind up protests from Peshawar.

“We will now join more than 900 colleagues who are protesting outside the Welfare Board Fund offices in Islamabad to have a final push for getting our demands fulfilled,” he said.

The schools, run by the WWB have a total staff of 3,500 out of which only 1,176 are performing duties on permanent basis.

The remaining 2,324 have been working on contract basis for last five years since their recruitment in 2009-2010 by the previous provincial coalition government of Awami National Party (ANP) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

The contract teachers have been asking for payment of salaries for the last seven months besides demanding their regularization as teachers at the Working-Folks Grammar Schools.

More than 45,000 students are enrolled in 48 schools getting education from Primary to Higher Secondary levels. However, the continued protests, at least third such practice in 2016 have forced many students to leave the educational facilities as they had no options within the financial reach of their parents.

Open Union General Secretary Malak Farhan said that they wanted the GBM to recommend names of all those who were cleared for regularization besides payments of all dues to the contract staff.

“A decent solution acceptable to all should be found for those who are alleged to have violated any law as most of the teachers have been serving in grammar schools for more than five years and many of them are now over-age for finding other jobs,” Farhan added.

He claimed that the educational documents of all contract staff were verified six times at the Higher Education Commission (HEC) but the provincial government could find no excuse to terminate their contracts. “Similarly, our CNICs have also been verified with NADRA. They could not find a single Afghan national as well,” Malak Farhan said.

Salman Humayun added the call for GBM meeting a great achievement. “It will be the first meeting in six months and we hope that the members will come up with the recommendations.”