TIMERGARA: Elders and parents from Nagri Payeen area of Talash on Tuesday demanded of the elementary and secondary education department to immediately start classes at the village’s government girls higher secondary school.

Talking to journalists, the elders, including Mohammad Shoaib, Ameer Sultan, Mohammad Nabi, Nageen Khan and others, complained that the school was upgraded during the previous government three years ago, but the intermediate classes were yet to start.

The elders said about 1,200 girls were studying in the school and majority of them gave up schooling after passing 10th grade as there was no college or higher secondary school in the nearby areas.

They said though all the Class-IV employees had been recruited, the subject specialists were not appointed as yet. They threatened to come onto the roads if the government failed to start classes with immediate effect.

PROTEST PLANNED: The employees’ coordination council, Lower Dir chapter, on Tuesday announced to hold a protest rally on June 28 against meager increase in salaries and imposition of new taxes by the government.

The announcement was made during a meeting chaired by All Pakistan Clerks’ Association, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa president Mohammad Shair Tajak.

The participants criticised the government for failure to control inflation. They said the 10 per cent increase in government employees’ salaries was just eyewash.

SEMINARIES’ EDUCATION: Jamaat-i-Islami leader and former provincial minister Muzafar Syed has said religious seminaries were playing vital role in spreading Islamic teachings.

Addressing a ‘Dastar Bandi’ function in Talash on Tuesday, he said religious seminaries were the real fortresses of Islam.

He said the previous government not only recognised the role of religious seminaries but also strengthened them by providing funds for building structures and purchasing water coolers and solar panels.

He said the PTI-led government should implement its previous policy regarding the seminaries.

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2019