HYDERABAD, Nov 24: Hundreds of teachers including a large number of women teachers belonging to Government Secondary Teachers Association (GSTA), All Sindh Teachers Association and Jamiat-ul-Mudareseen boycotted classes and took out a rally from government secondary school society and staged a protest demonstration outside the Hyderabad press club here on Saturday.

They were protesting against the orders of the education department calling upon the B.Ed and M.Ed degree holding teachers to appear in a test on Sunday (today) to prove their eligibility for advance increment.

They raised slogans against the secretary and called upon him and the deputy secretary education to appear in the test to prove their capabilities.

Speaking at the rally, the district president of the GSTA, Jan Mohammad I. Parhiar, Shaukat Shah, Samina Rajput, Azra Malano and others severely criticised the policies of the Sindh secretary education and demanded his removal.

They pledged to continue the struggle till the removal of the secretary and said no teacher would appear in the Sunday test.

They said that asking the M.Ed and B.Ed degree holders to appear in the test was an insult to the universities which had awarded these degrees. They added that if these degrees were of no value, the universities awarding these degrees should be closed.

They said that the teachers will not rest at peace unless the draconian rules were withdrawn.

The teachers’ leaders said that they believed in academic peace but the secretary education wanted them to take to streets.

HUNGER STRIKE: A large number of Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM) activists led by the district president of the party Masroor Thebo continued their token hunger strike outside the Hyderabad press club here on the fifth consecutive day on Saturday.