LAHORE: Hundreds of the public college teachers on Monday started a sit-in outside the Civil Secretariat in the provincial capital to demand service and pay protection.

The protesters expressed a resolve to continue the sit-in till acceptance of their demands of regularisation of jobs with pay protection. The Punjab Professors and Lecturers Accusation (PPLA), Young Lecturers Association and Nawa-i-Astaza office-bearers were also present in the protest.

According to the protesters, around 7,000 college teachers were affected by the poor policies of the government and they were facing Rs20,000 pay cut. They said the 6,500 college cadre recruited in 2002, 2005, 2009 and 2012 and 500 commerce college teachers were suffering due to cut in salaries. Though the services of the contract lecturers of the four badges were regularised but their contract service was not included while the contract service benefits were not given to them.

The college teachers said the government had accepted their demands in 2019 and the teachers had ended their sit-in. A summary was prepared to address the issue but it was not forwarded to the chief minister, they added.

They said this time, they would not leave the sit-in until the fulfillment of their demands and issuance of the order.

The sit-in was going on when this report was filed and no one from the government approached the teachers for negotiations.

Published in Dawn, March 8th, 2022