Teachers continue protest for regularisation of services

LAHORE: While a number of schoolteachers continued their protest here on Monday demanding unconditional regularization of their services, the Punjab minister for schools announced not to ‘move forward with his commitment.’ In a social media message, Schools Minister Dr Murad Raas observed that he held a meeting with the representatives of AEOs and SSEs (the other day) with an assurance that their issue would be resolved by April 9 and in return the teachers agreed to stop protesting. “…since their commitment to stop protesting is not being kept and they are still protesting, I will not move forward with my commitment,” the minister wrote on social media. It is pertinent to mention here that the protesting teachers have been demanding unconditional regularisation of services of over 11,000 Secondary School Educators (SSEs) and Assistant Education Officers (AEOs) across the province. They demanded that regularization of their services should not be linked to the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC). The schoolteachers had protested on several occasions in the past observing that over 11,000 SSEs and AEOs were upset because of delay in the regularisation of their services and they wanted unconditional regularisation as they were recruited purely on merit.