WHILE the world was observing teachers’ day on Oct 5, a group of teachers protesting for their rights in front of the Karachi Press Club were mercilessly beaten, dragged on the street and humiliated.

The teachers are protesting because the Sindh government has not regularised the services of more than 970 teachers appointed on merit as headmasters and headmistresses. These teachers have made great contributions towards the improvement of education in public schools of the province.

The appointed teachers went through a stringent recruitment process conducted by the Institute of Business Administration, Sukkur, and were appointed in July 2017. Thereafter these talented teachers proved their worth by changing the dismal picture of education in Sindh.

It is strange that the Sindh government is now having second thoughts and insists that the 900 plus teachers who have proved their ability and worth for more than years should sit the Sindh Public Service Commission exam and appear in an interview before their services are regularised.

It is indeed a gloomy picture of our society that teachers receive third degree treatment in Sindh. China, Malaysia and Taiwan are the top three countries in Asia in respect to teachers. Pakistan stands nowhere in this list perhaps because teachers and merit have no standing in our hapless society.

Zahoor Abbas

Larkana

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2019