KARACHI: Police on Monday resorted to baton-charge IBA-passed teachers and detained 40 of them for staging a sit-in near the Sindh Assembly as their services were not being confirmed despite a passage of over four years, according to witnesses, organisers and police.

Hundreds of teachers, who had come from different parts of the province, protested outside the Karachi Press Club. They claimed that 3,700 teachers had passed IBA tests in 2018, but their services were not being confirmed. They started a march towards the assembly and when they reached near Sindh Boys Scouts, police prevented them from moving further by erecting barriers there.

As the protesting teachers tried to remove the barriers, the police resorted to baton-charge. A teacher, Waqar Soomro, was injured and shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for treatment, according to the organisers.

The police also detained 40 teachers.

Kamran Jamali, focal person of the protesting teachers, told media that Deputy Commissioner-South Abdul Sattar Isani and the education department officials held talks with them, but they did not yield positive results as despite passage of four years, their main demand of permanent recruitment as teachers was not being fulfilled.

He announced they would hold a protest outside the CM House on Tuesday (today).

Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2022