Teachers protest, demand raise in allowances

Islamabad : The teaching and non-teaching staff of federal government colleges on Friday started a black armband protest, demanding a 150 per cent executive allowance on the pattern of officers of the Pak Secretariat, a 100 per cent increase in their conveyance, medical and house rent allowances, allocation of funds in the head of house rental ceiling to pay the pending rents. The protestors performed their duties wearing black armbands.

The Federal Government College Teachers Association (FGCTA) and All Government Employee Grand Alliance (AGEGA) had unanimously decided that staff of the colleges with other government servants should start wearing black bands from August 5 onwards to apprise the government of the difficult times facing government servants.

Dr Rahima Rehman, president of the Federal Government College Teachers Association, said the teachers assured parents they won't go on any strike but would bring the attention of the government through the protest campaign.

Farhan Azam, senior vice president of FGCTA, said, “We have started this peaceful protest against the soaring inflation and incompatible salaries of the government servants. We are demanding a similar increase in pay which has been given to officers of the Pak Secretariat. There is a huge gap between the salaries of privileged and unprivileged employees of the federal government. For employees of the same grade, there should be a uniform policy. Besides our demand for grant of Executive allowance to all employees, we are also demanding 100pc increase in the House rent, medical and conveyance allowances to beat inflation."

Jabir Hussain, press secretary of FGCTA said, “Employees of the Education department are always ignored. We are facing the worst situation that arose as a result of a huge decrease in the allocation of funds in the hiring budget. Owners of houses are demanding their money which is pending for years but teachers are unable to pay the rent due to the meagre release of funds. Moreover, teachers are not happy over the disparity in their pay compared to the employees of the Pak Secretariat, NAB, FIA, Parliament and judiciary.