LAHORE : On the eve of World Teachers Day, different teachers associations under the banner of Grand Teachers Alliance (GTA) organised peaceful demonstrations in the provincial metropolis to record their protest against the government’s education policies.
These demos were held outside the Lahore Press Club, outside the Education Complex Hall Road and other areas. It is pertinent to mention here that Punjab Teachers Union (PTU) and other associations had already announced to observe Oct 5 as black day in response to what they termed the government’s anti-teachers and anti-education policies including the handing over of public schools to private sector including NGOs and concerns over leave encashment, transfers and pension issues etc.
Speaking at these events, the teachers’ leaders including Rana Liaquat, Kashif Shahzad Chaudhry, Munir Sindhu and others alleged that the government was intimidating teachers with dismissal, show-cause notices and suspension for struggling for their rights which was highly condemnable. They said the teachers felt insecure because of the poor educational reforms and policies of the Punjab government. They also observed that educational revolution could not be established by disrespecting the teachers as teachers were the backbone of the education system.
The GTA leaders further said that by handing over the public schools to the private management, the education system would sink. They said over 120,000 teaching posts were vacant in the government schools across the province and the government instead of addressing such issues was taking measures of handing over public schools to private individuals and NGOs.
They further said that instead of targeting the teachers, the problems faced by them should be solved so that the dream of educational development could be realised and warned that otherwise the teachers would continue to struggle to protect their legitimate rights.