FDE employees vow to continue protest

Islamabad : Thousands of employees of the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) staged a protest demonstration in front of the Parliament House on Thursday, vowed to continue their movement till withdrawal of Government's decision of placing them under the Municipal Corporation of Islamabad (MCI).

The male and female protestors comprising teaching and non-teaching staff crossed barbed wires and hurdles after a brief scuffle with personnel of Islamabad Police for the second time in a month t to hold a protest meeting outside the Parliament House.

The teaching staff boycotted classes at their educational institutions to participate in the protest demonstration from the National Press Club to the Parliament House. Carrying banners and placards, the protesters raised slogans in support of their demands and against the Government's decision.

The PMLN leader Maryam Nawaz also took to Twitter to express solidarity with FDE employees. Maryam said that placing teachers under the MCI was the worst example of inefficiency and incompetency. “The government should immediately withdraw controversial clause of the ordinance,” he said. She said a man who played havoc with the present of the nation, should refrain from spoiling the future of children and prepare to go home.

Ex MNA Mian Muhammad Aslam who is also naib ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Dr. Nafeesa MNA of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) also turned up at a day-long sit-in to express solidarity with the protesting FDE employees.

Addressing the protesters, Mian Aslam said that the future of 13,000 teachers and over two lac students could not be decided through a Presidential Ordinance.

He said that education was not merely an administrative but also a national issue. “This vital issue should be resolved in consultation with all the stakeholders instead of imposing the decision on FDE employees and teachers,” he said.

Mian Aslam said the FDE employees have been placed under the Islamabad Mayor who does not exist there. The PPP leader Dr. Nafeesa Shah said the PTI-led Government by taking such an unwise and unpopular decision should get ready to face the wrath of Islamabad's people.

The leaders of the Federal Government Education Joint Action Committee (FGEJAC) threatened to give the next sit-in inside the Parliament House if their demand of abolition of Clause 166 of the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Ordinance, 2021 is not accepted.

The FGEJAC Chairman Fazal-e-Moula, vice chairpersons Malik Amir Khan, and Ms. Farida Yasmin, and other representatives of Federal Government Scho­ols and Colleges and Model Colleges said they were forced to stage protest demonstration after the government did not make any contact with them. They said that the Government people had given them assurances to address their grievance but so far no progress was seen there.