TAXILA: Teaching staff for students in the second shift at the Government Girls High School Burhan, Hassanabdal, have quit after being denied salaries for the last 18 months.

The second shift teaching staff at the school consisted of four teachers and a head teacher who taught about 100 girls.

A student of the 9th grade, Fatima Bibi, told Dawn that she comes to the school in the evening and that there are 30 other girls in her class. She said all the students in the second shift particularly come from low income families and cannot afford private school. A student of the 10th grade, Shazia, said they have not had any classes the last two weeks because the teaching staff left.

“We had dreamt of a new Pakistan where our children will get education but now even the existing facilities are being discontinued and the future is uncertain,” said a parent, Sultan Mehmood.

He said families cannot send their girls to schools in other areas due to cultural restrictions. Students have urged the provincial and district education authorities to look into the issue and resolve the problem of teachers’ salaries so girls in the area can get an education.

A teacher at the school said they had been employed for the second shift which was started to accommodate the extra strength and that the five-member teaching staff had been working for two years but were not paid salaries the last 18 months. She said the teachers had decided to not come in from Oct 1.

Chief Executive Officer Education Tahir Kashif told Dawn the teachers were appointed in a World Bank sponsored project for improving female education in the rural areas and that funds were allocated under the Program Monitoring and Implementation Unit of the Punjab education department.

He said the funds were exhausted which is why the teachers’ salaries could not be released.

Mr Kashif said the matter has been brought to the notice of the district education authorities and that arrangements are being made to release the teachers’ salaries from the non-salary budget till proper funds for their salaries are released.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2018