Some relief for teachers as govt agrees to conditional promotions

Karachi
A partial breakthrough in teachers’ issues came about when three members of the Sindh Teachers Alliance met additional education secretary Rehan Baloch on Thursday.
The teachers were assured by Baloch that the education department on Monday will issue a notification for the promotion of all teachers with more than 25 years of experience into BPS-16.
Teachers from across the province had tried to rally towards the CM House on Wednesday but the anti-riot police had stopped with baton charge and water cannons, while at least 25 were also thrown into jail.
However, despite the attempts to disperse their protest the teachers had continued to stage a sit-in at the intersection of Club Road and Dr Ziauddin Road, adjacent to PIDC.
Though the meeting on Thursday was scheduled for 1pm at the Sindh Secretaria, it began after 5pm. Convener of Sindh Teachers’ Alliance Intizar Hussain, and other officer bearers Shamsuddin and Hazoor Bux participated on behalf of the president Sikandar Jatoi who had had to return home to Kambar-Shahdadkot to attend a funeral.
Jatoi while talking to The News said the teachers had no problem with biometric verification and 99 percent of the teachers had gone through it. However, he said, the problem was that they were still not receiving their salaries.
Another one of the major demands of the teachers is restoration of suspended teachers, who were demoted and asked to join office work at the Sindh Secretariat by the education secretary.
However, said Jatoi, another meeting with be held with additional secretary Baloch on Monday when this matter will be sorted out.
Other issues such as timescale formula, restoration of son quota and will also be discussed in the next meeting, he added.