KARACHI: Joint struggle against ban on unions emphasized
KARACHI, Nov 5: Speakers at a conference on Saturday called for a coordinated movement against ban on teachers’ and students’ unions and to stop degradation of the education system.
They were unanimous that as long as all teacher and students bodies would not set aside their differences, they could not be successful in stopping the atrocities being meted out to teachers and students.
These views were expressed at a conference on “Save the education, save the country”, organised by the Students and Teachers Forum as a part of countrywide movement of the Islami Jamiat Talba (IJT) launched on Friday.
Speacing on the occasion, Younus Barai, Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) MPA said that there was no doubt that by saving the education system we would be saving the country.
“Education standard is a barometer to check the progress of any country and it is education which equips students with expertise, abilities and skills essential to take charge of the country”, he explained.
He noted that a system based on Islamic ideology was not acceptable for the West. “US President Bush and his satraps are openly saying that they are putting pressure on the Pakistan government to enforce such an education system which fulfils US intentions”, he added.
He was of the opinion that the IJT’s movement in question was need of the hour and in this regard all student and teachers’ bodies should join hands in the struggle to save education.
Prof Riaz Ahsan, president, Sindh Professors and Lecturers’ Association (SPLA), said that since the independence of the country education never remained a priority of the rulers.
Lamenting the declining standards of education, he observed that the basic purpose to retain this outdated system was to produce clerks from lower-income cadres and to produce rulers from the upper cadres. He said that student union was a platform to associate students' and teachers' association and after banning student unions the government also imposed a ban on teachers unions as to stop them from raising their voice against injustices being done in the education sector.
PPP Secretary-General Rafique Engineer said that in a country where even a pan seller was earning more than a teacher how could the education system survive. He called for collective measures against privatisation of national education institutes, increase in prices of textbooks and fees and unavailability of basic amenities at the government educational institutes.
Ghulam Rasheed Channa, president of the Government Secondary Teachers Association, rejected the government's claim that teachers were more interested in their union affairs instead of paying attention towards academic activities.
Syed Abdul Rasheed, Nazim IJT Karachi, vowed to take practical steps against these irregularities in the education sector.
At the end, all participants signed a joint strategy statement. Misbahul Huda, Abdul Rehman, Aniur Rehman , Ashrafuz Zaman, Rashid Naqvi and others also spoke.—PPI
