LARKANA: Primary school teachers took to the streets on Thursday in protest against what they termed as callous and humiliating attitude of the staff checking attendance of teachers with biometric machines, which they believed was the major reason behind the suicide of a primary teacher in Qambar.

The teacher, Jamil Abro, killed himself after murdering his wife, Komal Abro, about a week ago after the biometric staff withheld his salary, according to the protesters.

The protesters marched on main roads before assembling outside Jinnahbagh gate and later held a demonstration outside the press club.

Syed Raza Ali Shah, president of Primary Teachers Association, Larkana chapter, and others condemned the insulting behavior of the staff concerned and said that they were in the habit of unnecessarily blocking teachers’ salaries.

It was a source of great mental stress for teachers which could cause a nervous breakdown, depression and trigger suicidal tendencies in normal men, they said.

In Qambar, teachers took out a large rally after the school recess.

They marched to the Shuhada Chowk where they staged a sit-in briefly and later held another sit-in outside the press club.

Department’s version

Meanwhile, the education and literacy department in a communication to Dawn has clarified that Jameel Abro’s salary was not stopped by it. His ID was created on SAO software in 2013 at the office of the accountant general, Sindh. Since the taluka education office (male) did not have Mr Jameel’s personal or service record, the joint investigation team formed by the AG office declared [appointment of] 296 employees, including Mr Abro, fake, it said, adding that the cases were currently under investigation by the National Accountability Bureau.

Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2016