LARKANA: After a lockout, employees of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Larkana took to the streets on Tuesday while expressing apprehensions over handing over the control of education boards to a new regulatory authority.

It was the 30th day of their protest when wearing black armbands the board workers, chanting slogans and carrying banners marched on the main roads of the city. The controller, secretary and other officers of the board also joined the agitation against the government’s move.

Representing the All Pakistan Clerks Association (APCA), Mohammed Ali Daipar, Karimdad Kalhoro, Mohammed Iqbal Jagirani, Naseer Mohammed Mirani and Faiz Mohammed Mallah led the rally which converged outside the Larkana Press Club.

Addressing the protesters, they alleged there was something fishy behind the plan of establishing a regulatory authority, adding that the management of the authority would be handed over to PPP leader Dr Asim Hussain.

It would be disastrous if it happened, they feared, saying that it would be quite an unwise decision to offer the control of Sindh’s education boards to a man who was already facing allegations of misappropriating Rs480 billion.

They alleged that Dr Asim was harassing the employees of boards through his cronies, which they condemned, saying that workers were united under one flag. They demanded withdrawal of the decision, otherwise they would not only demonstrate at the mausoleum of Benazir Bhutto in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh Bhutto on March 14, but also boycott the proposed annual examinations of Secondary School Certificate Part-I and II scheduled from March 25.

Published in Dawn, March 13th, 2019