LOWER DIR: The secondary schoolteachers have demanded of the elementary and secondary education department to upgrade their scale to grade-17.

The demand was made during a meeting of the SST welfare association, Lower Dir chapter, the other day, with association’s Lower Dir president Yousaf Khan in the chair.

The participants said the SST cadre had not been upgraded since 1991 unlike other teaching cadres despite the fact that they were the backbone of the education department.

They said the association had ended its protest sit-in in Peshawar on Jan 4 after secretary education Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry had promised to meet their demand.

They also demanded immediate regularisation of teachers recruited through NTS, and threatened to bring teachers again onto the roads if their demands were not met.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2021