College teachers observe ‘Salam Teachers Day’ as black day in KP

PESHAWAR: The college teachers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Thursday observed “Salam Teachers Day” as black day across the province to press the government to revisit its policies towards education in general and colleges in particular and accept their demands.

October 5 is observed as “World Teachers Day” across the globe.

In Pakistan, the same day is marked as “Salam Teachers Day”. Unhappy with the government policies, the teachers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, however, decided to observe the day as black day in a peaceful manner.

The teachers across the province staged token protests on the premises of their colleges. Seminars were arranged in the colleges. The teachers wore black ribbons on arms and displayed banners and placards in institutions which were inscribed with slogans in support of their demands.

The action committee also announced to hold a grand meeting in Peshawar on October 9 to discuss and devise future line of action.

The members said that they could launch a protest campaign and take some extreme steps like closing the colleges and holding a sit-in outside the residence of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan at Banigala, Islamabad, if the government failed to accept the demands.

The teachers have already launched a protest campaign against the government policies about colleges, especially the formation of the board of governors and giving financial and administrative autonomy to colleges. Some protest demonstra- tions arranged by the teachers recently forced the government to hold talks with the teachers and convince them to call off the protest campaign.

The teachers postponed the drive only to resume it after they got disappointed with the government’s attitude.

According to the action committee spokesman Aziz Ahmad, the government has failed to declare categorically to revisit the policy on colleges and accept the demands of the teachers.

Aziz Ahmad said the provincial government announced an education emergency in the province soon after coming into power, but nothing could be done for improving the condition of colleges during the last four years.

He said the new policy of formation of board of governors in the colleges has caused unrest to teachers, students and their parents.

Aziz Ahmad said the government should revisit the policy and take all the stakeholders into confidence before experimenting with colleges.

He also demanded the government to give one-grade promotion to the college teachers on the pattern of university teachers in accordance with the announcement made by former prime minister Shaukat Aziz in 2005. Aziz Ahmad stressed the need for a proper service structure and promotion policy for the college teachers and librarians. He said the action committee wanted the government to start giving professional allowance to college teachers like doctors.

The spokesman said some 150,000 students graduated from the government colleges in the province. The education at college level is almost free currently. But after the introduction of the board of governors, the six-month fee for the college student would reach from Rs35,000 to Rs90,000, which is tantamount to closing the doors of education for the students belonging to the middle and lower-middle class.

“Let me make it clear that only poor students study in the government colleges. If the fee is increased at such a higher rate, the students would be left with no choice but to quit education halfway,” he said.