PESHAWAR: The Fata ad hoc lecturers on Thursday ended the nine days long sit-in after the government promised to regularise their services.

Ad hoc Lecturers Association president Afsar Khan told reporters at the Peshawar Press Club that higher education minister Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani and public health engineering minister Shah Farman visited the camp of protesters and assured them all of service regularisation within a week.

“We, the teachers, staged a sit-in for nine days against the delay in regularisation of our services but now, the provincial government has promised to resolve our demand. In this light, continuing with the protest is not appropriate,” he said.

Accompanied by other lecturers including Pakhtunkhwa College Teachers Association president Nasrullah, Mr. Afsar said contractual employees in other departments had been regularised but unfortunately, the 213 ad hoc lecturers of Fata including 100 women were denied service regularisation.

Ministers assure protesters of service regularisation within a week

“The two ministers assured us that a summary regarding regularisation of our services will be forwarded to the chief minister within a week for approval,” he said.

The teacher leader said the protest was ended in light of the minister’s assurance.

“A total of 213 lecturers including 100 women have long been performing duty on ad hoc basis in various parts of Fata. They are stressed out for not being regularised,” he said.

Mr. Afsar said a high-level meeting on Feb 16 had discussed the matter in detail and recommended the regularisation of the ad hoc teachers’ services to the chief minister.

On the occasion, the Pakhtunkhwa College Teachers Association president complained Fata teachers diligently performed duty in their respective areas despite the delicate law and order situation but the government was indifferent to their call for service regularisation.

He also said it was unfortunate that educational institutions in the province had yet to be given foolproof security.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2016