Chitral community school teachers demand salaries

CHITRAL: The teachers of the community schools have demanded Chief Minister Mahmood Khan to direct the quarters concerned to release their salaries.

Protesting at the Chitral Press Club, the Basic Education Community Schools Teacher Association president Haleema Bibi, general secretary Jamila Bibi and others said they had not been paid salaries for the last nine months. The teachers said they had been living a miserable life and were facing financial crisis due to non-payment of salaries for such a long period.

They said that the prime minister and federal minister for education should honour the pledge of regularizing services of the community school teachers. The teachers said that the salary of the female teachers should be increased to make it equal to, at least, minimum wage, adding an additional amount for payment of utility bills and medical bills should also be included in the salaries.

They said the students had been attending schools and taking classes without new books which had not yet been provided to the community schools. The teachers said that there were total of 93 community schools functional at homes where female teachers were not only teaching them but also caring for the needs of the students. “Each female teacher draws Rs8,000 per month against her salary which is not sufficient to cover her family expenses for the whole month,” Haleema Bibi said. The teachers said that the relevant authorities had not provided books for the students for the last two years while they had been going without salaries for the last nine months which was a grave injustice.