MANSEHRA: The district administration of Battagram has sacked 23 teachers and watchmen who have been absent from duty for the last many years.

“Yes, we have terminated the services of about 23 teachers and watchmen who were absent from duty for a long time,” said Zarif Almani, the deputy commissioner of Battagram, while speaking to media persons on Friday.

He said that district education officer Mohammad Shaukat had issued the termination orders on his instructions.

“We have served several notices on these employees to explain reasons for their absence from duty, but they couldn’t give any solid reason in this regard,” said Mr Almani. He said that these employees were posted in the middle and high schools in the district.

Sources in the education department said that those who were served with notices by DEO didn’t respond as majority of them had taken up jobs abroad.

Battagram DC says the teachers failed to respond to repeated notices

The biometric system introduced by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led coalition government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has exposed such teachers and other employees in the education department. The sources said that some teachers settled abroad had even hired the services of proxy teachers to perform their duties in past, but now owing to the strict measures taken by government such practices were no more practicable.

POWER OUTAGES: A large number of people blocked the main chowk to traffic in Baffa the other day in protest against the prolonged and unscheduled power outages.

The protesters were chanting slogans against the Wapda and demanded end to unscheduled power outages. They also blocked the road for over two hours.

Speaking on the occasion, the protesters said that they had voted for PML-N as it had been claiming during election days to end the power outages in the country.

However, they said that it was unfortunate that the PML-N government had doubled the duration of loadshedding now.

They threatened to block the Karakoram Highway if the outages were not ended.

HIGH SCHOOL SOUGHT: The people of Ichrian have demanded of the government to establish a girls’ high school in the town as most of the girls stop going to schools in other far-off parts of the district after passing their middle standard examination.

Bibi Kulsoom, a social worker, said that neither the lawmakers nor education department bothered to establish a high school for girls in the area.

She said that currently over 600 girl students were getting education in middle schools in Ichrian and majority of them would leave going to schools as there was no higher education facilities in the town.

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2015

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