LAHORE: The Punjab Muttahida Mahaz Asatiza has demanded that stern action should be taken against the elements responsible for ‘deliberate’ mistakes in geography book of class VIII.

The demand was raised at a meeting of the Mahaz representatives from all over the province here at a government school on Wednesday.

Presided over by Mahaz Chairman Tariq Mahmood, the meeting was primarily convened to finalise a future course of action as the government had been turning a deaf ear to ‘just’ demands of teachers for the last couple of months.

Mahaz central secretary-general Kashif Shahzad told newsmen after the meeting that a province-wise protest would be launched with a massive rally at Lahore’s Charing Cross on Aug 28.

“Instead of taking any practical steps to redress teachers’ grievances, the school education department has started issuing show-cause notices to teachers on minor issues and flimsy grounds besides imposing an unwritten ban on their leaves,” said Mr Shahzad.

The meeting was participated in by Punjab Teachers Union central president Hafiz Ghulam Mohyuddin, Punjab SES Teachers Association central president Rana Sultan Mahmood, Punjab Educators Association central president Chaudhry Safdar, Senior Staff Association’s former central president Hafiz Abdul Nasir and other office-bearers of the bodies, he said.

He said that executive committees of the Mahaz at division, district and tehsil levels would hold meetings before Aug 8 to discuss the protest plan.

Members of the committees, to be constituted at the district level between Aug 10 and 15, would visit every school in their jurisdiction to muster support by creating awareness among teachers about the high-handedness of school education department authorities.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2015

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