BUNER/SWABI: College students on Tuesday took to the streets to protest boycott of classes by teachers for last one month over the alleged government plan to privatise the colleges, which has adversely affected their studies.

Over 800 students of Government Degree College, Daggar, in Buner came on the roads, protesting that they had no option other than to take to the streets. They blocked the road at busy Swari chowk and demanded of the teaching staff to end the boycott and resume classes to save their precious time.

DPO Mohammad Irshad Khan Yousafzai visited the protesting students and requested them to reopen the road. He urged the students to observe strike inside the college instead of blocking roads.

He also had a meeting with the strike teachers, following which, a leader of the teachers held talks with students and urged them to end the agitation, but the protesters did not budge.

The students said the teachers were getting salaries but were not ready to attend to duty.

In Swabi, students of three boys colleges staged demonstrations on Tuesday against continued boycott of the classes by teachers.

The students of Postgraduate College, Swabi, marched to Gohati Bus Stop where they blocked the road. The students of Government Degree College, Shewa, blocked the Swabi-Mardan road for traffic for over an hour.

Students of Zaida Degree College marched to Kunda Mor and blocked Swabi-Jehangira Road.

The protesting students chanted slogans against the government and the striking teachers for wasting their precious time.

Blockade of roads caused hardships to commuters.

The students urged the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led provincial government to immediately address the demands of the teachers so they could resume duty without delay.

Meanwhile, some of the striking teachers this correspondent spoke to said the government had failed to give any heed to their demands, and the pledges made with them in various meetings with officials and politicians had not been honoured.

Meanwhile, PTI leaders blamed the opposition parties for inciting the teachers to protest.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2017