RAWALPINDI: Teachers and clerks associations on Saturday staged a token sit-in on Murree Road against the appointment of Azam Kashif as the District Education Authority chief executive officer and threatened to lock offices and block the main road on Tuesday if the Punjab government did not withdraw the notification by August 1.

The government on Saturday appointed Mr Kashif as the chief of the District Education Authority.

In the past, the official was appointed twice in the district but transferred on the demand of teachers and clerks.

Punjab Teachers Association and Punjab Clerks Association expressed their resentment and said the official was appointed third time time in the district but teachers and clerks would not accept him because of his behaviour.

All organisations in Rawalpindi working for the rights of teachers and clerks rejected the reappointment by locking the CEO office here.

More than 300 protesters staged the sit-in front of the education offices on Murree Road and later dispersed peacefully.

Leaders of Punjab Teachers Association Raja Aurangzeb, Raja Shahid Mubarak and representatives of Punjab Educators Association, Punjab Subject Specialist Association, All Pakistan Clerks Association Raja Aftab, Raja Shahid Mehmood and English Teachers Association and others participated in the protest.

The participants were carrying placards and chanting slogans in favour of their demand.

Addressing the gathering, Raja Aurangzeb and Raja Shahid Mubarak said the protest would continue till their demand was met.

They said the scope of the protest will be expanded from Monday.

“We would lock all the offices of the Education Department from Monday. If the CEO’s appointment is not withdrawn, all teachers and clerks of Rawalpindi district will block the Murree Road from Press Club Rawalpindi to the CEO offices and hold a protest march.”

They said there was no political agenda of the teachers and clerks.

The PTI always claimed to follow merit but after coming to power its leaders have started appointing their favourites, they added.

The protesters said a junior official was appointed as head of the authority.

They alleged the chief executive officer’s attitude towards teachers and staff, especially female teachers, was very inappropriate and indecent.

It was his routine to suspend teachers without any reason on a daily basis, they said.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2022