LAHORE: Teachers go on strike - Tevta terms it uncalled for
By Our Reporter
LAHORE, April 13: The United Teachers Association on Tuesday observed a strike in different technical education institutions in several cities as a protest against non-acceptance of their demands by Tevta chairman Sikandar M Khan.
According to a statement issued here on Thursday, UTA chairman Muhammad Tariq, president Muhammad Arif and secretary-general Qausain Naqvi said the strike was observed at the Government Institute of Commerce, Shahdara, Samanabad and Allama Iqbal Town; Government Polytechnic Institute for Printing and Graphic Arts, Lahore; and various other institutions in Sargodha, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar and Fort Abbas.
They said the teachers also held protest meetings in technical education institutions. They would completely boycott the forthcoming D.Com and DBA examinations.
Mr Tariq said the dialogue between Tevta and UTA had remained inconclusive because of the Tevta chairman's attitude. He said the UTA office-bearers had also proved their point that the Tevta's performance was not up to the mark.
Tevta: Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority chairman Sikandar M Khan has said the United Teachers Association has adopted a highly unreasonable stance by deciding to go on boycott.
Talking to reporters after the annual prize distribution of the Punjab Board of Technical Education at the Alhamra Hall on Tuesday, Mr Khan said the UTA leaders had opted for a disruptive path to voice their concern about their demands. "Strikes are negative activities, which should be avoided," he added.
Admitting that no decision on any item agenda was reached in the Tevta-UTA's meeting on Monday, he said teachers almost all demands had various legal aspects that needed to be clarified before taking a decision.
He said the issue of promotions and move-overs, carrying on since 1992, had different legal aspects. He also said the matters related to around 10,000 teachers had legal as well as financial implications.
"If the matter of promotions and move-overs has not been decided for the last over a decade, there is no reason to demand that the issue be resolved there and then and go on a strike the next day," he commented.
Answering a question, he said it was also unjustified on the part of teachers that they had decided to boycott the conduct of the forthcoming DBA examinations.
Stating that the PBTE would definitely develop a contingency plan to conduct the DBA examinations, Mr Khan said Tevta was not currently taking any administrative action and motivating them to realize that it was their national and moral duty to let the education process continue.
He said the academic strike and boycott of examinations would create problems for the students and their parents, adding the institutions also earned a bad name due to these kinds of activities.
Mr Khan said Tevta would obviously take remedial measures if the teachers would not realize their national duties. He said there was no plan to devolve the technical education at the district level.
"The National Reconstruction Bureau had taken a decision that the technical education would not be devolved like the other provincial departments," he said. He said Tevta was favouring decentralization of the administrative powers at institutions' level.
Regarding the conduct of examinations by the PBTE, he said the examinations in Pakistan were a complex issue and could not be declared completely transparent.
