Rawalpindi : Traffic in cantonment board areas remained choked due to protest demonstrations of the Joint Action Committee of All Pakistan Private Schools and Colleges Association (APSCA). A large number of teachers, students, and parents staged protest demonstrations in different localities against the shifting of private educational institutions from the Cantonment Board areas.
The protesters decided to approach the courts for justice. The protesters have burnt the ‘school model’ given the message that education was burning but the government was in a deep slumber. The protest demonstrations were held here in Chur, Westridge, Harley Street, Chungi No22, Scheme-III, Qasim Market, Saddar, Adiala Road and several other areas.
The Joint Action Committee of All Pakistan Private Schools and Colleges Association have announced protest demonstrations on daily basis. They have decided to stage protest demonstrations in front of their institutions every day at 9:00 am. The protest demonstrations would continue till the acceptance of their genuine demands, the Joint Action Committee of All Pakistan Private Schools and Colleges Association has warned here on Thursday.
On the other hand, Rawalpindi Cantonment Board and Chaklala Cantonment Board (CCB) managements have decided to take serious action against representatives of the Joint Action Committee of All Pakistan Private Schools and Colleges Association for bringing students in protest demonstrations.
Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) has already issued final notices to the owners of all private schools and colleges located in residential areas to vacate their buildings before the end of 2021. This decision of RCB was highly appreciated by the residents settled here in cantonment board localities.
The protesters carried banners and placards in their hands raised slogans in favour of their demands.
Leader of Joint Action Committee of All Pakistan Private Schools Association senior representatives including Malik Ibrar, Chaudhry Muhammad Tayyab, joint action committee journal sectary Malik Azhar Mehmood, Nasir Mehmood, Abrar Ahmad Khan, Rana Sohail Naseer Ahmad Janjua, Hafiz Basharat, Mohammad Usman, Nadeem Shiraz, Naseem Malik, Mohammad Asif, Shahbaz Qamar, Chaudhry Amjad Zeb, Mohammad Jameel, besides Abbottabad Pima central officials Wahid Siraj, Irfan Talib, Atif Khan Jadoon, Naeem Ashraf, Amjad Ali, Sheikh Qamar, Atif Aziz, and others spoke during the rally.
Participants chanted slogans and demanded of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, the Chief of Army Staff and the Prime Minister that the eviction of private educational institutions from the cantonment areas be stopped immediately. They also said that in 2017, the government had issued an order stating that private educational institutions should be shifted from cantonments to commercial areas. Representatives of private schools also protested and presented their suggestions to the government.
Addressing the protest the leaders of the Joint Action Committee of Private Schools, said that they have to educate the children of the enemy but the doors of education are being closed for our own children. Middle-class parents will have to enrol in schools away from home, which will increase their expenses. The closure of street schools will leave thousands of teachers unemployed. They also said that educational institutions like other business centres are very important within the limits of the Cantonment Board.
They said that they would go to courts because courts would definitely give them justice in this issue.
