CHITRAL, July 13: The hunger strike of teachers of the Aga Khan Education Service, Pakistan, has entered the fourth day which they had started at Booni, the tehsil headquarters of Mastuj, after the expiry of a deadline set by them. The teachers’ demands include better service structure, rise in their salaries and removal of the general manager of the organization. Students also expressed solidarity with their teachers and warned that they would join the teachers if their demands were not accepted forthwith.

Negotiations between the management and representatives of the teachers ended in failure on Monday as the latter insisted on en bloc acceptance of their charter of demands.

Sources told Dawn that the general manager of the organization, a British national, had been called to the headquarters based in Karachi where she would be asked to relinquish the charge.

“The removal of the general manger was one of the demands, so we cannot call off our strike at this stage,” said a representative of the teachers. “We just want our right for which we can go to any length and offer any sacrifice,” he expressed his resolve.

The Aga Khan Education Service runs more than 13 high schools for girls in the district, mostly in upper Chitral and Lotkoh valley where there are no government schools.

The teachers of the schools have criticized the management for allegedly exploiting them. The immediate cause of the teachers’ protest is the removal of many teachers without any cogent reason while the increment awarded to them is also nominal, ranging from only 22 rupees to 70 rupees.

Recently, the organization launched a programme, aided by the European Commission, to promote primary education, better the standard of secondary education and improve educational infrastructure. The organization has got multi-million Euros for the purpose which will be spent over a span of five years.

The teachers regretted that the few influential sitting in Karachi were misleading donor agencies, showing them the plight of Chitral and Northern Areas, and squandering the funds.

They questioned that if the field of action was Chitral and Northern Areas then why Karachi was the headquarters of the organization. They said those sitting in the offices drew fabulous amount of money as salaries while the teachers were paid nominal salaries and they were not given service security.