SWABI, Dec 3: Primary schoolteachers and others who have passed the certificate of teaching long course demanded on Wednesday that appointments in the education department should be made on open merit.

Talking to newsmen, the teachers, led by Irshadullah, Javed Afsar and Shaukat Hussain, said they would challenge the government’s policy of making appointments on batch and year basis if it was not changed.

They said they had apprised MNA Khalil Ahmad and other parliamentarians of their problems. They said the leaders had assured them that the issue would be raised with the education department.

They said they planned to meet the provincial education minister.

The provincial government has announced that about 4,500 teachers will be appointed to fill vacant posts in the educational institutions.

Of the appointments, 75 per cent would be made under the batch and year basis formula and the rest on open merit basis, they said.

Under the formula, they said, a majority of the teachers who had passed a three-month CT course had been promoted to CT posts while those who had passed the long course examination had got only 25 per cent share in the appointments.

They said a majority of the long course trained teachers held BEd and masters degrees but the government had given priority to FA pass teachers.