HYDERABAD, July 4: Leaders of the Sindh Educational Alliance have said that they will strive to reopen closed primary schools in the province. Speaking at a press conference at the press club here on Tuesday, they urged the Sindh government and officials of the education department to support them in the noble cause of introducing reforms in the education system.

Munir Ahmed Bhatti, Amanullah Teghani, Mohammad Qasim Pathan, Qazi Ehteshamul Haq, Mehboob Khoso and Khalid Rasool were present on the occasion.

They said that the alliance, comprising Primary Teachers Association, Masjid Schools Association, Mehran Elementary Education Association and Jamiatul Mudaraseen, was against closure of schools, agitation and hunger strike.

They said that the alliance would sincerely work against anti-education elements and their anti-education policies to further the cause of education in Sindh.

They said that the teachers were quite capable of protecting their rights through the power of pen.

They demanded that inexperienced and ex-cadre officers should be repatriated to their original posts and same facilities should be granted to teachers working in urban and rural areas.

They said that special allowance should be paid to English teachers of primary schools, best teacher award should be given purely on the merit basis and teachers should be associated with preparation of syllabus.

The leaders proposed that the outdated system of detailment and working on one’s own pay grade should be done away with, elementary school system should be streamlined and primary schools headmasters should be given at least grade-14.

They demanded that the notification with regards to the promotion of primary teachers to the junior secondary teacher should be issued without any delay, supervisors and local coordinators should be appointed from among the primary teachers and HST teachers should be appointed as subject specialists.

They said that repeated announcements about ban on teachers’ associations were harming the cause of education.

They cautioned the government that some so-called leaders, who had their own vested interests, were trying to exploit the issue to get cheap publicity which was harming the cause of education.

They said that if the government was really interested in accountability, then the teachers alone should not be made scapegoats.

They expressed the hope that Sindh chief minister, education minister and secretary would continue to support the alliance in the larger interest of education.

They demanded that the Sindh education secretary should hold talks with a delegation of the alliance to resolve problems of teachers.