SWABI, April 15: Women teachers are getting nominal salary under the Iqra Development Programme, sources said.

They said that under the programme, a teacher was paid Rs1,000 per month. Moreover, the teachers are not paid their salary every month but after three months.

The meagre salaries and delay in payment have created a sense of deprivation among the teachers.

The salary is paid to teachers through cheques and the banks deduct Rs50 from the salary of each teacher.

The sources said the IDP had established 193 primary schools in the district where 7,131 girls were acquiring education.

They said the women teachers were running such schools in their homes but they were not paid house rent or electricity bill.

“Since the start of the schools we are not getting house rent, although each teacher has spared a room for students in her home. We are also not paid electricity charges and we have to make the payment from our salary,” said a teacher.

According to IDP director Mohammad Zaman, the sources said, 30,000 girls in the Swabi district were not going to school. “There is a need for establishing more schools in the district to enrol more girls,” the sources quoted the official as saying.

The sources said the government was claiming that it was making efforts to impart quality education to the youth and promote literacy but it was not providing facilities to teachers and students. They said without providing required facilities, the literacy rate could not be increased.

In contrast, the sources said, teachers under the Adult Literacy Programme were getting adequate salary.

They said the “Education for All” project would not succeed if the government did not take practical steps for promoting education.