CHITRAL: Teachers of government colleges in Lower and Upper Chitral districts demonstrated outside the press club building here on Monday against what they called the government’s decision to privatise their educational institutions.

Led by president of the Chitral chapter of the Pakhtunkhwa Lecturers Association Naveed Iqbal and representatives of the College of Management Sciences, the protesters carried placards and shouted slogans against the government.

They opposed the privatisation of government colleges insisting the move will render education unaffordable for the common man.

Mr Iqbal said the performance of public sector colleges had improved tremendously over a period of time, so more and more people were enrolling their children there.

He said the government had begun moving towards the privatisation of colleges by advertising the formation of the board of governors for the Government Jahanzeb College, Swat, with financial and academic autonomy.

The association leader said the same would happen to other colleges.

He said the government’s privatisation initiative would increase the cost of intermediate and higher education so that the common man won’t be able to afford it.

Mr Iqbal said currently, public sector colleges charged BS students Rs2500 each for a semester but the fee was likely to go up to Rs70,000.

He said the teachers would stage street protests and move the court against the college privatisation plans.

WORKSHOP: The directorate general of health held a workshop here on Monday to increase breastfeeding awareness.

The event was attended by lady health workers, lady health visitors and nurses.

The speakers, including focal person for the initiative Zafar Khan, public health coordinator Dr Wali Khan, charge nurse Sakina and district khateeb Maulana Fazle Maula, advocated breastfeeding and said mothers should feed infants to prevent them from serious health issues.

Earlier, a breastfeeding awareness walk was held in parts of the city.

PROTEST: Protests were held in Bumburate valley in Lower Chitral and Werkup village in Upper Chitral district on Sunday against the slow pace of work on road projects in Kalash and Torkhow areas.

The protesters flayed the government over poor budgetary allocations for major arteries in the region.

They warned that if work on road projects wasn’t expedited, streets protests would be staged.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2021