Teachers concerned over abrupt closure of schools

LAHORE

Punjab Teachers Union (PTU) expressing concerns over abrupt closure of schools ‘on the pretext of cold’ have termed it a conspiracy against schoolteachers.

In a press release PTU leaders including Sajjad Akbar Kazmi, Rana Liaqat, Jam Sadiq and others said closing schools ahead of class-5 and 8 examinations, to be conducted by Punjab Examination Commission (PEC) next month, was strange, adding it would result in poor performance of students in the exams.

They said schoolteachers were also against the ‘privatisation’ of around 5,000 public primary schools of the province and announced protest demos outside press clubs across the province on Jan.28.   

It is pertinent to mention here that Punjab government in an abrupt move on Monday night had announced closure of public and private schools across the province till 31 Jan. The officials claimed the move was aimed to save the students from extreme cold weather but there is a general perception the schools have been closed in the wake of security situation after attack on the Bacha Khan University. There are also rumors some schools had received threats following which the government decided to announce the holidays in order to ensure maximum security measures in the meanwhile. 

standing committees: A number of parliamentarians from different political parties on Tuesday stressed the need for strengthening standing committees of the Punjab Assembly.

The legislators observed that standing committees and legislators of the provincial assembly in Punjab were facing many challenges in the wake of limited powers of the standing committees. Some of them also expressed concerns over long awaited amendments vis-à-vis rules of procedure of the Punjab Assembly.  

They also said 24 standing committees out of 39 did not even met once, other than for electing their respective chairpersons.

The interactive session between members of the Caucus on Education Legislation and Financing and Lahore Education Reporters (LERA) was organized Institute of Social and Policy Sciences (I-SAPS) in under the USAID’s Citizen Voice Project.  They parliamentarians also called for delegating suo-moto powers to the standing committees and possibility of inviting media and general public to attend meetings of the committees.

The session was addressed by MPA Khurram Jahangir Watoo (PPP), Faiza Malik (PPP), Uzma Bukhari (PML-N), Ahsan Riaz Fatiana (Independent), Dr Nosheen Hamid (PTI) and Ahmad Ali senior research fellow I-SAPS.