UPPER DIR: Local teachers in Upper and Lower Dir and Mohmand Agency held protest demonstrations and rejected the recently announced timescale formula by the provincial government.

The protest in Upper Dir was organised by the local chapter of All Teachers Grand Alliance (ATGA) outside the district education office. The protesters walked from there to Dir Chowk.

Addressing the protesters, ATGA leaders Mohammad Din, Badshah Hussain, Bakhtiar Zamin and Ikramullah said that government deceived them and did not fulfil its promise. They said that government should announce a timescale policy to promote a teacher to next grade after serving for four years instead of completing eight-year service.

The teachers said that they would not accept the timescale policy recently announced by the government as it would increase their problems. They demanded of the government to announce timescale and service structure for teachers as it had promised with them.

The teachers threatened to hold a protest on April17 outside the residence of PTI chief Imran Khan in Banigala, Islamabad.

In Lower Dir, teachers of government school in Lower Dir on Thursday came on the roads against the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government for its failure to announce teachers-friendly promotion formula and abolish school-based policy in education sector.

The All Teachers Grand Alliance (ATGA) also arranged a protest rally in front of the Timergara Press Club which was attended by hundreds of schoolteachers affiliated with different organisations. The teachers also boycotted duties and wore black armbands. They marched on the road from DEO office to the press club while carrying banners and placards inscribed with their demands.In Mohmand Agency, the protest was organised by the local chapter of All Teachers Association (ATA). The protesters were led by ATA president Marjan Ali and Ali Sher.

They said that government deceived them in the name of timescale as they did not get any benefit from it. They said that Fata teachers had serious reservations over the timescale policy announced few days ago.

The protesting teachers said that the provincial government was working on an aggressive policy that would affect the future of their children. They claimed that recruitments of teachers in the future would be made only the basis of contract. “It will destroy the education department completely,” they feared.

Published in Dawn, Aprill 13th, 2018