KARACHI: As a large number of schoolteachers staged a protest outside the Karachi Press Club and tried to proceed towards Chief Minister House on Wednesday, Sindh Education Minister Sardar Shah said that fair and justified demands of the protesting primary-school teachers could be accepted.

The protesting teachers under the banner of the Primary Teachers Association gathered outside the Karachi Press Club and staged a sit-in to put pressure on the government for the acceptance of their demands, including regularisation of teachers recruited from 2001 to 2019 across the province.

The protesters, who raised slogans against the provincial government, said that some of their colleagues had been manhandled and pushed back harshly by police, though the teachers remained peaceful.

Speaking to Dawn, the education minister said that protesting teachers were demanding upgradation of primary-school teachers from grade 9 to 14 as the fresh primary teachers were appointed in grade 14.

Police hold back protesters from marching on CM House

“This is already in our policy and the post has already been upgraded,” he added.

He said that the matter pertaining to promotions of primary-school teachers to the post of headmaster in some districts was under consideration and it would be resolved soon.

The special secretary of the education department, Pervez Baloch, visited the protesters at the sit-in and held talks with them, but the issue could not be resolved.

Later, the protesting teachers dispersed peacefully with a warning that they would hold another demonstration in front of CM House if their demands were not met.

Speaking on the occasion, PTA Sindh president Shafi Mohammad said that hundreds of teachers, including male and female, who had been recruited between 2001 and 2019 in Sindh still could not be regularised despite the teachers who had been appointed in other three provinces had been regularised.

He said that the nation could not make progress until teachers were given their rights.

He urged the education minister to hold talks with teachers and resolve their issues immediately.

The PTA Sindh leader demanded that primary teachers recruited from 2001 to 2019 should be regularised forthwith, biometric system should be shifted to district level from the provincial level to help teachers, and the allowance of headmasters should be raised to Rs5,000 to Rs10,000.

The PTA leader warned that if their demands were not accepted, they would march on CM House.

He said that they were protesting peacefully for their rights as they were employed after passing the national testing service test.

The government had promised to regularise their jobs, but the promise could not be fulfilled yet, which was the matter of great concern, he concluded.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2022