Hundreds of teachers will protest in front of the provincial assembly on Thursday (today) against the government for not resolving their issues.
The protest has been called by the Punjab Teachers’ Union. The union has urged the government to take notice of failings of the education minister’s committee constituted to resolve their problems. The committee was formed on April 9 after teachers staged two demonstrations to press their demands.
The four-member committee was constituted through a School Education Department notification and was mandated to hold meetings and present its recommendations for resolution of teachers’ concerns.
These recommendations were to be presented to Education Minister Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan. The committee comprised convener MPA Tahia Tia Noon, MPA Mehwish Sultana , SED Additional Secretary Ahmed Ali Kamboh and PTU president Syed Sajjad Akbar Kazmi.
Kazmi has said that the committee failed to convene meetings to deliberate over the issue.
“Only one meeting was held where we were asked to send our reservations in writing and communicate it to the committee through the SED”, he told The Express Tribune.
The meeting was held on April 21 and the next meeting was scheduled for April 24.
The PTU president says the union had sent its reservations but there has been no response from the government or the committee.
“We have been trying to get in touch with the members of the committee to hold another meeting but we are being told that they are busy”, said PTU general secretary Rana Liaquat Ali.
While PTU claims that the committee was supposed to present its recommendations on April 24, SED authorities say there was no such plan.
Kamboh says there are no deadlines for the committee’s recommendations.
Last week, while speaking to The Express Tribune, Education Minister Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan had said that while the government wanted to resolve problems of teachers, it would take some time.
He did not comment on the deadline for the committee to present its recommendations, saying talks were underway.
Meanwhile, a letter of protest by the PTU has been sent to government authorities including the chief minister, SED secretary and Lahore DCO.
Teachers are to gather outside the assembly at noon after which a sit-in is scheduled to take place.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 8th, 2014.