No payments to FDE daily wagers despite funds release

Islamabad: Despite the approval of the required funds by the finance minister, the teachers working at Islamabad’s government schools and colleges have yet to get the salary withheld for eight months. Since the denial of salary, the daily wagers have staged token strikes, boycotted classes and even stayed away from examination duty many times, but to no avail.

Notwithstanding, on April 19, they got good news when finance minister Ishaq Dar announced to approve the immediate release of Rs290.706 million worth of supplementary grant to the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) for the payment of salary to both teaching and non-teaching staff members of the educational institutions overseen by the Federal Directorate of Education in the Islamabad Capital Territory.

The development came after state minister for CADD Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry met the finance minister and apprised him of the misery of those daily wagers. However, daily wagers have yet to receive withheld salary.

Imran Sikandari of the Youth Teachers Association Islamabad told this scribe that he had no formal knowledge of the release of funds by the finance ministry nor had the daily wagers been paid salary. “We’ve learned about the release of money through newspapers. There is no formal intimation on it,” he said.

He said both teaching and non-teaching staff members and their families had long been in distress over non-payment of salary and therefore, the CADD should ensure the payment of salary to them to ease their sufferings.  There are around 2,000 FDE staff members working in Islamabad’s government schools and colleges on daily wage basis.