BAJAUR: Teachers appointed for the second shift classes in government middle and high schools here have demanded payment of their salaries for the last seven months and warned to stage a protest sit-in in front of the local education department if their dues were not paid to them within three days.

Talking to mediapersons here on Sunday, All Bajaur Double Shift Teachers Association president Abdul Hadi said that like other districts of the province the local education department had also appointed over 100 teachers for the second shift classes in several government schools on fixed pay in March last.

Accompanied by other office-bearers, Mr Hadi said the initiative was aimed at enrolling out-of-school children and reducing burden on the educational institutions.

He said most of these teachers had the higher qualification than required for these posts and attending the second shift in the afternoon as per the education department policy. He added that these teachers had also successfully achieved the target set for enrolment of out-of-school children in the district.

Despite getting lower payments than the regular teachers, he claimed that the teachers working on fixed pay were performing duties with great commitment.

Mr Hadi recalled that the teachers got the salaries for the first three months till May, but regretted that the payments were stopped afterwards.

He also accused the education officials of deduction from their salaries for spring and national holidays in violation of the agreement made at the time of their appointment.

The association’s president claimed that the amount of their salaries had been deposited in the additional deputy commissioner’s bank account for the last one and half months, but it had not been paid to them.

He stated that they had conveyed their concerns to the chief minister, education minister and local administration officials several weeks ago through letters for payment of their salaries, but got no response despite passage of several weeks.

He said the association had decided to hold a protest sit-in in front of the local education department in Khar if they were not paid their salaries within next three days.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2023