KOHAT: Female teachers of 21 basic community education schools staged a protest in front of the press club here on Tuesday against non-payment of salaries for last 16 months.

On the occasion, teachers, Ms Ruqqaya, Ms Beenish, Ms Warda and others regretted that their services were also not regularised on the pattern of their counterparts in Punjab and Sindh.

They said the government had put the future of 1,500 students studying in 21 basic community schools in Kohat at stake. They chanted slogans against the provincial government for denying them their due rights.

Separately, primary schoolteachers, including their heads, staged a demonstration outside the press club, demanding grades 15 and 16 for them.

They also called for regularisation of all the ad hoc teachers.

Speaking on the occasion, Tariq Khan, president of the teachers’ association, said teachers deserved upgradation as they were appointed after clearing the tests conducted by the Educational Testing and Evaluation Agency.

He said they had qualifications equal to those teaching in middle and high schools.

PROTEST RALLY: Students of schools and colleges, employees of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Kohat, social and political activists took out a protest rally on Tuesday against the provincial government’s plan to merge the boards with the Peshawar BISE.

They walked through the bypass road, holding banners and posters inscribed with slogans against the education boards’ merger, and demanding of the local lawmakers to take up the matter in the provincial assembly.

TWO KILLED: Two youths were gunned down in Lachi tehsil on Tuesday over a woman’s engagement.

SHO Tariq Khan said a man, namely Ayaz, had opposed his sister’s engagement with his namesake. He said Ayaz and his accomplices ambushed the motorcycle, his namesake and another man, Asim, were riding, killing them on the spot.

The police officer said the attackers crossed over to Banda Daud Shah area of Karak district from Chalo Ziarat mountainous area.

The police launched an operation to arrest the culprits.

The family of the deceased, Ayaz, got registered a double murder case against the attackers.

FINED: Owners of six restaurants and a milk shop were fined for not maintaining hygiene during inspections by a team of Khyber Food Safety and Halal Food Authority led by deputy director Asad Qasim on Tuesday.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2022