LAHORE: The schoolteachers’ associations have divided over holding of protests as one faction of the Punjab Teachers Union has announced resuming academic activity in schools, while the other faction plans to stage a protest demonstration at Faisal Chowk on Tuesday (today).

The Punjab Teachers Union, led by Syed Sajjad Akbar Kazmi, is of the view that the bureaucracy and people at the helm of affairs are continuously ignoring the teachers community.

“The teachers are not interested in boycotting classes and observing protests but are being compelled to do so,” Kazmi said. He criticised the School Education Department bureaucracy for victimising teachers’ leaders. He demanded the government should resolve their problems including their right of seeking casual, privilege and short leaves.

He said the teachers transferred to far-off places should be rationally posted. He said the teachers observed academic boycott on the third consecutive day across the province on Monday and added that the teachers from Lahore district would stage a sit-in in front of the Punjab Assembly on Tuesday (today) at 12 noon.

Another PTU faction, led by Hafiz Ghulam Mohiuddin, said the teachers would not observe academic boycott across the province on Tuesday (today).

At a PTU meeting, Mohiuddin said the School Education Department secretary was briefed about teachers’ problems from the Mutahida Mahaz-i-Asataza platform on April 2 and the department had issued a notification the very next day to resolve their concerns owing to irrational implementation of re-allocation of teaching posts policy in the province.

Mohiuddin stressed that teachers should submit their grievances with regard to rationalisation of posts to their respective district officials and added it was a season of studies and not protests.