TIMERGARA, Feb 11: A group of people who have taken teachers’ training courses but are without jobs have threatened to burn their degrees in front of the DCO office in Timergara if the caretaker provincial government continued to follow the MMA government’s policy regarding appointment of primary school teachers.

They held a protest march on Monday after taking a written test for appointment. They said the present government should amend the policy regarding teachers’ appointment for primary schools.

Later, talking to journalists at the Timergara Press Club, Murad Khan, Rehman Sayed, Mohammad Bilal, Farooq, Shafiullah, Shakir, Mohammad Sajid and others said they had completed the courses and training of primary school teachers but had been jobless for many years.

They said they were victims of the previous government’s policy to appoint 75 per cent teachers from a specific union council and the rest of 25 per cent teachers from the whole district.

They alleged that untrained people with middle and matriculation certificates had been appointed as teachers and master’s degree holders had been ignored. They termed it a joke with the standard of education because the people appointed against the posts were unable to teach to students.

They urged the caretaker government to abolish the current policy and adopt a district-wise or batch-wise policy so that deserving candidates could be appointed as teachers.

They warned that if the government continued following what they called the discriminatory policy, they would burn their degrees in front of the DCO office after Feb 18.

Meanwhile, interviews of candidates who took the test for primary teachers’ posts will be held on Feb 20.