February 10, 2007	Saturday	Muharram 21, 1428

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ISLAMABAD, Feb 9: Defying directives of National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain, two federal ministers on Friday refused to meet the protesting teachers of Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF) Girls College, F-8/2, outside the Parliament House building and termed the protest unjustified and premature.

Over 100 teachers of the OPF college working on contract basis were protesting outside the Parliament House building against the decision to make them sit in a written test and interview for the same job.

The teachers are of the view that since they are already working on contract basis, therefore, there is no need for such an exercise and their services should be regularised.

Speaking on a point of order, People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) MNA Nayyar Bokhari drew the attention of the National Assembly towards the protesting teachers outside the Parliament House building and asked the speaker to send the concerned federal minister or some other person to listen to their grievances.

Replying to Mr Bokhari’s point, Federal Minister for Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis Ghulam Sarwar Khan said he had come to know through newspaper reports that the teachers had been protesting.

He said these teachers had been working on three months contract. He said the OPF had decided to fill up some vacancies and to maintain quality of education it had reviewed basic qualification criteria.

He said the salary structure was also being improved. He, however, said that the contractual teachers would be regularised through a process. He said the government had also decided to increase the period of contract from three months to one year.

Annoyed with the protesting teachers, the minister said there was no reason for them (teachers) to come on roads and outside the Parliament House. “First they should have gone to the ministry or come to me,” the minister added.

After listening to Mr Khan, the speaker directed Federal Minister for Science and Technology Chaudhry Nouraiz Shakoor and Minister of State for Environment Malik Amin Aslam to go outside the building and convey to the teachers that their contract period had been increased and their demands would be looked into.

However, Mr Shakoor said when the concerned minister was present in the house then it would be better for him to go and talk to the teachers as he would be in a better position to explain the issue.