May 20, 2002	Monday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 7, 1423

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RAWALPINDI, May 19: Schoolteachers from all over the country, including Azad Kashmir, will march on the capital on Tuesday to press the government to accept their demands.

“We did not get any response from the education authorities to the class boycott we started on May 10. And, now we have decided to go on with our plan and march on the capital,” Chairman, Action Committee of the Pakistan Teachers United Front (PTUF), Raja Zafeer Ahmad said.

He said he would be able to gather about 0.1 million teachers from all over the country to demonstrate in front of the Parliament House. He said teachers did not like to protest, but the government had compelled them to take this step.

The PTUF representatives said teachers were passing through severe financial crisis and were feeling deprived due to the government’s apathy to their multi-faceted problems. All doors of promotion for teachers have been closed, they added.

According to official figures, there has been 300 per cent hike in prices since 1994, but the increase in salaries of teachers, belonging to scale seven to 16, is only 13 per cent.

All teachers were unanimous that the steps being taken by the government were against the interests of education, the PTUF representatives said.

They said teachers had put forward their charter of demands before the government on March 4 with an appeal that they be accepted by March 31, but all their calls went unheeded. They were then compelled to launch demonstrations at Tehsil, district and division levels, besides boycott classes from May 10. But, the government showed indifference to their campaign and did not accept their demands, they added.

The PTUF representatives have appealed to all patriotic politicians, intellectuals, journalists and lawyers to stand by the teachers in their campaign against the flawed education policies of the incumbent government.