THE Sindh Education Foundation (SEF) is a government autonomous body serving to promote primary and secondary education in remote areas of Sindh. There are 21,000 teachers and 841,000 enrolled students in 3,192 schools under its different umbrella programmes, as per the SEF website.

The teachers are trained through different training programmes run by its training unit. These teachers are low-paid with salaries ranging from Rs5,000 to Rs12,000, and that too is paid on a quarterly basis by the school operators.

This is a fact, but nobody takes notice of this injustice that is being meted out to the teachers who have been serving the organisation since decades. Whenever a teacher has tried to highlight the issue in the media, the operators and SEF management have either terminated their services or threatened them with termination.

In these days of hyperinflation, how can these teachers survive in this meagre amount of money that is paid every three months? The tenure of the SEF administrative staff is regularised, and they receive huge amount in salaries with all allowances, but the teachers, who are the backbone of this organisation, suffer heavily from constant injustice.

The teachers do their duties with punctuality and dedication, but job insecurity creates uncertainties for them, which sometimes push them into depression and anxiety. The training unit is spending millions on conducting trainings, but most teachers quit their jobs due to the irrational financial mechanism of the system.

The employment of all such teachers must be duly regularised. Whenever they raise a voice, they are threatened by school operators and SEF staff. This attitude must be curbed. The teachers of SEF deserve the attention of the Sindh government, especially of the chief minister, so that the issues affecting the lives of the teachers may get resolved, and they may focus on their professional duties with more dedication and peace of mind.

Zahid Hussain Mirani
Head Teacher/Principal
Muhammad Alam Ghaloo
Elementary School
Tando Masti Khan

Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2023