June 04, 2007	Monday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 18, 1428

Getting inspiration from the lawyers movement, teachers, the most sensitive, vulnerable and neglected community of the society, have also launched a movement for better salary package and perks.

Anti-government slogans now resonating the premises of educational institutions showing the disenchantment and dissatisfaction of masses with the policies of the government.

The teachers’ hunger strike has come at an appropriate time, as the federal budget is likely to be presented on June 8 to exert pressure on the establishment to accept their demands.

Throughout last week, representatives of the Pakistan Teachers’ United Front (PTUF) remained on a hunger strike at the busy Aabpara Chowk against the indifferent attitude of the government.

Unfortunately, ignoring the fact that lawyers and teachers are the few well-educated people of the country, the government baton charged them ruthlessly instead of listening to them. But so far they have been sticking to their guns and giving the government a tough time. Their continuous struggle has also created a much needed awareness of rights among the laymen, and with every passing day more and more people are coming out to support them.

Though lawyers and teachers are fighting for two different causes, the overwhelming response to their protest calls from the masses shows the level of frustration in society as a whole.

Bar councils, right from the Supreme Court to the tehsil level, have rejected the presidential reference against the chief justice of Pakistan. Similarly, schoolteachers from all the four provinces have got united on the platform of the PTUF to fight for their rights.

Last week, several hundred class-IV employees from various cities of the NWFP staged a protest demonstration in front of the parliament house for regularisation of their services under the existing government grades.

Back in 1991, the NWFP government had recruited thousands of employees in class-IV on fixed salaries and since then they are continuing with the hope that some day their jobs would be regularised. Interestingly, this category of contract is only NWFP-specific. Office-bearers of the All Pakistan Class-IV Employees Association, who were leading the demonstration, told Dawn that despite repeated commitments by the provincial government to settle the issue, they were left with no option but to come to the federal capital with the hope that the federal government would intervene and ask the NWFP government to streamline their services.

They said there were around 18,000 such employees working in various departments of the provincial government. Ironically, they work on fixed salaries but are supposed to remain on duty round the clock.

The PTUF, a representative body of over 800,000 schoolteachers in the country, has given a protest call against the government for not fulfilling its demands which largely aimed at promotion of teaching as a profession.

Leaders of the PTUF were initially on a symbolic hunger strike but from June 1 they have gone on a hunger strike until death to force the government for acceptance of their demands.

According to the protesting teachers, time scale job is their main demand. At present, there is hardly any promotions in the school level teaching job, and the teachers are mostly retired in the same grade in which they got recruited.

On several occasions during the last four years, the government said it would accept PTUF’s demands: on record six times by the federal education minister, twice by the prime minister and once by the speaker National Assembly.

The PTUF has enumerated 12 demands starting with time scale jobs to the rejection of the ongoing denationalisation of schools.

Other demands include scales like that of teachers in the federal schools, upgradation of scales, house requisition facility, conveyance allowance, teaching allowance for Punjab, NWFP and Sindh teachers, restoration of selection grades, move- over grades and additional educational qualification based increment introduced by Gen Ziaul Haq, bringing back the old commutation system, and cancellation of the contract system for teachers.

Government authorities starting from the president, prime minister to the federal and provincial education ministers hardly missed an opportunity to announce new salary structures for schoolteachers. But over the years, teaching has remained the lowliest paid profession in the country. Though, of late, the Higher Education Commission has given a reasonable salary increase to university teachers, but schoolteachers are yet to be benefited from the much-trumpeted economic progress in the country.

Punjab government had announced a special teaching allowance for teachers in its budget of the outgoing financial year. However, so far, teachers have not been paid the allowance. The Punjab government argued that since the centre had refused to give it Rs3 billion for this purpose, it was unable to pay the allowance.

At present, only teachers in AJK, tribal areas and Balochistan are given the teaching allowance.