PESHAWAR: The teachers of various government schools in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) have expressed concern over the prolonged delay in their promotion and warned to march on Islamabad if their demands, including reconstruction of destroyed schools, are no accepted immediately.

All Tribal Teachers Association leaders, including Shamshad Khan Afridi, Dawood Khan Wazir and Mujahid Mohmand, told a press conference at Peshawar Press Club on Saturday that they had presented a charter of demands to the government, but it was yet to be accepted.

“The previous government had accepted our demands pertaining to our promotion and work on the plan was initiated, but the sitting secretary of education department, Abid Majeed, has stopped the process for unknown reasons,” they said.

The association’s president, Shamshad, said that the secretary had issued directives to withdraw the incentives from the teachers which had caused unrest among the entire community.

He urged the government to open all the closed schools in Fata and enable the students to get education at their doorstep. He said that the government was bound to reconstruct the destroyed school buildings. He said that the people of Fata had already suffered heavily due to operations and lawlessness, and if the government created any fresh problems for the teachers the situation would worsen.

“We have time and again requested the government and held meetings with the officials to get our problems solved through negotiations, but it seems the government is least bothered to pay attention and now we have the only option of march on Islamabad,” he warned.

The teachers’ leader said that the delay in acceptance of the demands had created unrest to the extent that the teachers could even commit self-immolation in Islamabad. He warned that in case of any such incident the responsibility would rest with the Fata Secretariat and federal government.

He said that several cadres of teachers had not bee included in the promotion policy. He asked the government to stop exploitation of school teachers, implement the plan for their promotion and release all the incentives to them without any delay.

Mr Shamshad also criticised the government for putting restrictions on teachers’ unions in Fata and said that teachers would not accept any ban on their associations.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2014