PESHAWAR: The cash-starved Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has not paid salaries for the last five months to teachers of 1,443 schools operating in double shift in 27 districts of the province, according to sources in elementary and secondary education department.

They said that the schools were established by the government to work in two shifts to enrol out of school children and reduce burden on overcrowded educational institutions. They said that nearly 3,000 teachers, attending second shift at the schools in the afternoon, had not been paid salaries for the last five months.

A teacher told this scribe that future of 43,000 students, enrolled in the second shift of the government schools, seemed bleak owing to non-payment of salaries to teachers.

He added that the teachers, hired in March, would not be able to continue their job without getting salaries.

43,000 students in 27 districts get education in second shift

He said that initially second shift schooling was started in the buildings of 100 government schools as pilot project. The project was later extended to 1,443 located in 27 districts of the province, he added.

The teacher, who teaches at one of such schools in Dir Lower, said that all the students enrolled in 1,443 double shift government schools were either working as labourers in the morning or helping their parents in their respective professions.

“I am doing my PhD in botany from Hazara University. Other teachers with me in the second shift have also done MPhil in different subjects. Our enthusiasm is dimming with each passing day as we have not been paid salaries for the last five months,” he said.

The teacher said that their school was located in a far-off mountainous area of Dir Lower where local transport was not available. He said that he daily went to school on his motorbike. He added that he was short of money to fuel up his motorbike as he had spent all his available money during the previous five months.

Another teacher, who is also MPhil scholar in the Pashto department of Bacha Khan University Charsadda, expressed similar feelings and apprehensions. “How the government is running the province if it is unable to pay salaries to the teachers,” he questioned.

He said that primary school teachers (PST) were hired at a fixed monthly salary of Rs22,000; class teachers (CT) at Rs25,000; secondary school teachers (SST) at Rs28,000; and subject specialists Rs30,000 during recruitment for double shift schools in March.

The teacher said that government paid them their salaries of three months in May with deduction of holidays. However, they were yet to get the salaries of June, July, August, September and October, he said.

The teachers have also held a meeting with Minister for Elementary and Secondary Education Shahram Khan Tarakai and secretary education in connection with non-payment of their salaries in the first week of September.

In the meeting, they were promised that their salaries would be released by the end of September, but in vain.

“The idea behind the ‘double shift programme’ is to create space in schools for higher classes. The buildings of primary schools are used for middle schools in the evening and those of middle schools for high classes. The buildings of high schools are used for students of higher secondary schools,” sources in the education department said.

They said that Rs110 million had been allocated for the project in settled districts and Rs35 million for tribal districts.

Minister for Elementary and Secondary Education Shahram Tarakai was not available for comments.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2022