Failed teaching candidates demanding lower passing marks face baton charge

By Our Correspondent
October 06, 2022

Police on Wednesday baton-charged protesting failed candidates for teachers who tried to enter the red zone as they demanded that the Sindh government should recruit them as primary school teachers (PSTs) and junior school teachers (JSTs) because they had secured more than 33 per cent marks in the recruitment test last year.

Advertisement

The minimum passing mark for the teacher recruitment test was, however, 50 per cent. In some areas where no one could attain even 50 per cent marks, the government relaxed the minimum passing marks to 40 per cent.

Demanding that the minimum passing marks for the test be reduced to 33 per cent, the protesters, who had come from areas such as Sanghar, gathered in front of the Karachi Press Club and later attempted to march on the Chief Minister House. They chanted slogans against the Sindh government and officials of the provincial school education department.

The protesting teacher candidates were of the view that the Sindh government had already designated low literacy areas as ‘hard areas’ where teachers were appointed against 33 marks.

However, Atif Vighio, media coordinator of Sindh Education Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah, said the Sindh government had declared some talukas as ‘hard areas’ where the literacy rate was extremely low and there was no one to be appointed as teacher.

He explained that in those talukas, some teachers had been hired against 33 per cent marks but after approval from the Sindh cabinet. The media coordinator added that those ‘hard areas’ were not more than from seven or eight.

He explained that the Sindh government had already given relaxation in the recruitment criteria reducing passing marks from 50 to 40 per cent in those talukas where candidates could not obtain even 50 per cent marks.

The protesting candidates who appeared in the test held under the supervision of the Sukkur Institute of Business Administration were of the view that they also belonged to underdeveloped talukas and they should also be hired against passing marks between 33 and 39 per cent.

The protesters intended to stage a sit-in in front of the CM House, but as they tried to move towards the red zone, a heavy contingent of police reached there and subjected them to baton charge. The police also detained some of the protesters to disperse them. Later, the detained protesters were released.

Advertisement