March 29, 2003	Saturday	Muharram 25, 1424

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RAWALPINDI, March 28: On the call of Punjab Professors and Lecturers Association (PPLA), the teachers community on Friday launched a protest campaign against the privatization policy of the Punjab government till the acceptance of their demands.

Their demands include withdrawal of the denationalisation and board of governors’ notification, reinstatement of the sacked teachers and immediate halt to victimisation of teachers.

In this connection, the teachers have decided to stage daily protest demonstrations and boycott the classes after 10am.

On Friday, the teaching staff in boys colleges observed boycott of classes after 10am. They were wearing black bands around their arms and passed resolutions condemning the privatization. The PPLA local leaders also visited various colleges to ensure the observance of boycott.

Speaking on the occasion, the PPLA local president, Muhammad Ilyas Qureshi, said the privatisation process would have very bad impact on teachers and students. He said in several European countries like Italy, France, Britain there had been widespread protests by teachers and students against the privatisation of educational institutions because of its adverse impact on educational system.

He said the policies, which failed in the West, were being implemented in Pakistan. He hoped that their struggle would bear fruit.

Meanwhile, schoolteachers and student organisations also announced to join the protest campaign. Local president of Punjab Teachers Union, Imtiaz Abbasi, said bureaucracy had been wrongly informing the chief minister about the privatisation of educational institutions.

He said full resistance would be shown to prevent the government from denationalising the colleges and schools.