Three years since hiring, teachers protest for regularisation

Karachi: Three years since they were hired after passing the requisite tests, hundreds of teachers gathered at the Karachi Press Club on Thursday demanding to be regularised without further delay.

Belonging to at least eight different districts of the province, the teachers on being met with government officials’ indifference decided to move towards the Sindh Assembly Building. However, they were stopped by the local police from moving any farther than the Arts Council intersection.

Gul Laghari, one of the protestors, while speaking to The News explained that the teachers had passed the written test conducted by the NTS in 2014 and have been receiving salaries from the first month of their hiring.

However, he said the teachers would lose their jobs if they were not regularised now – as per the policy, all teachers are to be regularised within three years. “The teachers of Jamshoro will lose their jobs after July 29, while those hired in Karachi after December 1,” the protestor added.

The first batch of teachers appeared for a test conducted by the Institute of Business Administration, while a second took a test conducted by the Sindh University; a third lot appeared for the exam held by the National Testing Service.

Besides regularisation, the teachers also demanded being paid teaching allowances and an annual increment in basic salaries and lifting of the ban on transfer. The high-school teachers were called for being promoted to grade BPS-16 and permitted to apply for higher posts.

The protesters stated that neither the minister of education and literacy, nor the secretary education schools met with them since they were caught up in official assignments.

However, in absence of both the officials, additional secretary education, Nuzhat Fatima, called a three member delegation of the teachers to her office to hear them out.

The delegation later assured the protestors that the meeting went successful. They further stated that the additional secretary had acknowledged that their demands should be met in letter and spirit and offered a final meeting with the secretary education schools on Monday, July 31.

Albeit on a different issue, this was the second protest staged by government teachers to have their demands met. On Monday, the New Teachers Action Committee had again taken to the streets to protest against the Sindh Education Department for not releasing their salaries since August 2012 after their appointments were declared fake.