Govt schools reopen after CO Education removed

Rawalpindi : The Special Duty Judge, Rawalpindi Naveed Akhtar has accepted the bail of 19 public school teachers who were arrested during protest demonstrations against the chief officer (Education).

Punjab Education Department (PDE) has accepted the demands of protesting teachers and removed the Chief Officer (Education). Notification regarding the immediate transfer of Chief Officer (Education) Azam Kashif was issued here on Friday.

With the removal of the Chief Officer (Education), all public schools here in Rawalpindi have also been unlocked and educational activities have resumed. All public schools have been unlocked after seven days.

The court has approved the bail of 19 protesting teachers including principals and vice-principals. Thirteen teachers were already acquired pre-arrest bail. Police had registered 17 FIRs and arrested total of 32 protesting teachers.

The court has accepted the bail of Principal Nabeel Naqvi, Raja Naveed, Raja Zaheer, Akhyan Gull Tahir, Javed Anjum, Chaudhry Sajid, Raja Ajaib, Muhammad Nafees, Sadarat Shah, Qaiser Majeed, Shamrez Iqbal, Sikandar Satti, Shabbir Awan, Nadeem Abbas, Muhammad Sohail, Hammad Shah, Muhammad Zareef and some others.

Government teachers had already locked the office of Chief Officer (CO) Education, Rawalpindi for two weeks. The ‘sit-in’ against the third time posting of CO (Education) had continued for two weeks.

The public school teachers have demanded to end baseless cases against them. “If higher authorities tried to harass public school teachers, all teachers will once again lock schools,” public school teachers warned.

The majority of parents apprehensive about the situation told ‘The News’ that the future of their children was at stake. “How children could get an education in this situation when teachers will lock schools and when higher authorities arrest teachers,” parents strongly denounced.