ISLAMABAD: Dozens of daily wage and volunteer teachers staged a protest demonstration against Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) for release of their salaries on Wednesday.

The protesting teachers, who have been teaching in various schools in Bhara Kahu area, claimed that senior officials were creating hurdles in the release of their salaries.

The protesters kept the road outside the FDE blocked for several hours and chanted slogans against the FDE director female and other officials.

“I have been teaching at Islamabad Model School for Girls, Bari Imam, for the last two years, but we have not been paid a single penny,” said Toheed Zahra.

Two days ago, an FDE team headed by Director Female Farida Yasmin paid a visit to Bhara Kahu to check how many daily wage teachers were employed in the schools.

The FDE officials claimed they found a number of ghost daily wage teachers and according to school records, majority of the teachers, who were staging the protest, had been absent from their jobs for a long time.

The protesters rejected the FDE’s claims and said they had been performing their duties until now but the FDE was victimising them.

Volunteer teachers

There are over 100 volunteer women teachers working in FDE-run schools in Bhara Kahu.

According to these teachers, at the time of their appointment, they were assured that after the completion of 90 days of service, they would be made daily wage employees. They said they had fulfilled the criteria and completed the 90 days of service but they have not be made daily wage employees.

“If the FDE did not have plans to sign daily wage contracts with us, we should not have been kept for two years. For two years, we taught with dedication and paid up to Rs4,000 to private vans to reach the schools, each month. We did all this with the hope that we would be given contract letters,” said a volunteer Ambreen.

Another volunteer, Naz, said she had been working as a teacher without payment since May 2013 but now the FDE had failed to include her name in the daily wage employees list.

“The record of my service is available with the school I worked at. At the time of appointment, I was told I would be made a daily wage employee after 90 days. Now when the FDE is paying salaries, we are being ignored,” she said.

A senior FDE officer, requesting anonymity, told Dawn that he personally knew dozens of dedicated volunteers who had been working consistently.

“Their records are available with the schools but the FDE could not accommodate them,” he said. He said if the FDE did not have paid positions available for these volunteers then they should have not been kept for such a long time.

The protesting volunteers and daily wage teachers requested State Minister for Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) Barrister Usman Ibrahim to intervene in the matter.

Later, they dispersed peacefully when they were assured by FDE Director Saleem Awan that their cases would be judged on merit.

“No genuine teacher would be deprived of their right to a salary,” he told the protesters.

Published in Dawn March 12th , 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play