Teachers rally against proposed privatisation of schools
From Our Correspondent
JHANG: A large number of male and female schoolteachers, under the auspices of the Punjab Teacher Union, on Wednesday took out a rally against the proposed privatisation of schools.
The protesters, led by PTU VP Sufi Ramzan Inqalabi, took out a rally from the press club, which was culminated at the Nadra Chowk. The participants were holding banners and placards inscribing slogans against the proposed privatisation of educational institutions. Speaking on the occasion, PTU VP Sufi Ramzan Inqalabi said that through the privatisation of schools, the provincial government was sidestepping its responsibility to fix the broken education system and address the grievances of the teachers. He said that if the government privatises schools, the children studying at the public school would be severely affected. Currently, he added, public/government schools only charge Rs 20 per month in education promotion fund with no tuition fee in the province. Sufi Ramzan said that a meeting was held with the additional secretary schools but the government was not ready to reverse its decision. PTU Women Wing district leader Mrs Farkhanda Usman, Naveed Akhtar and others also addressed the protesters and warned the Punjab government that if the schools handed over to the Punjab Education Foundation (PEF), they would boycott the schools across the province. They alleged that the Punjab government had planned to gradually privatise 5,000 schools in the province to deprive teachers of their jobs. Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Distract Education Department claimed that the government took the decision after showing zero per cent results and very low enrolments by various schools. Commenting on the future of the teachers, he said that the government would adjust the teachers to other elementary, high and higher secondary schools against vacant posts. He said that the government would not hand over the land or the buildings of the selected government schools to the private sector but just their administration.
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