PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is facing accusations that it deprived thousands of male and female teachers employed at the private educational institutions of their legal right of minimum wages. The Labour Federation Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and a number of teachers complained that the words ‘private educational institutions’ was deleted from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minimum Wage Act 2013 to effectively deny the right to minimum wage to teachers working at the private schools and colleges. As per the notification issued on May 5, 2015, the provincial government notified in the official gazette that “In clause (vi) of sub-section 1 of section 2 of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minimum Wages Act 2013 the words and comma ‘private educational institutions’ shall be deleted.” The provincial government made this amendment to the law on the recommendation of Qaumi Watan Party (QWP)’s Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) Meraj Humayun. The QWP has recently rejoined the PTI-headed provincial government. The amendment was titled “Amendment of Certain Laws.” Labour Federation Khyber Pakhtunkhwa president Rahim Shah told The News that the amendments were made secretly as many members of the provincial cabinet owned private educational institutions in the province. “The amendment was made to avoid action by the Labour Department. The majority of the famous private educational institutions are violating the KP Minimum Wage Act 2013,” he said, adding that the amendments were made under a conspiracy. An official of the Labour Department told The News that all cases against the private educational institutions were withdrawn from the Labour Court after the amendments to the Act. He said the department had filed cases against the known private schools in Peshawar that were not paying salaries to teachers as per the Minimum Wage Act 2013. Also, the Labour Court had started imposing fine up to Rs50,000 on the schools that were not paying Rs12,000, which is the minimum monthly salary under the said Act. Official sources said the Act was amended after the Labour Department and Labour Court started taking action against the private educational institutions. The provincial government through the amendments once again left the teachers in private educational institutions at the mercy of the management schools as majority of them are getting salaries less than Rs12,000. The private school teachers across the province are underprivileged in terms of perks and salary compared to those with secure jobs in government institutions. Muhammad Ibrar, a teacher in a private school, said he was getting Rs5,000 only as monthly salary. He said there was no regulatory authority to check and monitor the private schools in the province. Jehangir, another teacher of a private school, said that private institutions in urban areas paid good salaries, but teachers in rural areas were mostly underpaid. He said the school owners exploited the young people due to the rising unemployment. Rahim Shah, the provincial president of the Labour Federation, and private schools teachers criticised the PTI-led provincial government for depriving the teachers of their right.
