Date-sheet of teachers’ protest ampaign against the Punjab government’s policies District Education Authority (DEA),

THE schoolteachers are set to launch a protest campaign against the Punjab government’s policies including setting up of the District Education Authority (DEA), additional duties and penalisation of teachers. The Punjab Teachers Union (PTU) led by Allah Bakhsh Qaiser and secretary-general Taj Haider have rejected the government’s decision of setting up DEAs, punishment handed out to teachers on the basis of weak results and non-academic duties being assigned to the schoolteachers. Mr Qaiser said the Punjab government’s plan to induct seven councillors as DEA members would destroy the education system because they would not be having acumen to run the education department affairs in a bid to meet standards and objectives. He stressed that the government should improve assessment system so that real-time results could be attained. To begin with, the PTU has decided to hold a protest demonstration in front of the Lahore Press Club, followed by a protest march up to the Punjab Assembly on Oct 3. Mr Qaiser said the union would organise protest meetings, rallies, academic boycotts and subsequently hunger-strike camps if the demands were not met. Meanwhile, the Joint Action Committee of Teachers, Punjab has decided to observe Salam Teachers Day on Oct 5 as “Day of Protection of Teachers’ Respect”. The day will feature protest camps and protest demonstrations at district and divisional levels. Another PTU faction’s central president, Syed Sajjad Akbar Kazmi, and other leaders have said 2013 was very hard for teachers as the government kept teachers engaged in non-academic duties that led to poor results. He said the teachers then faced punishments like re-allocation of posts and ‘rationalisation’. Now, Mr Kazmi said the Punjab government was pursuing a policy of setting up DEAs. He said the officials at the DEAs would have unlimited powers, which would eventually destroy the education system. He said the teachers, particularly women, would be harassed. He said the DEAs would also reduce opportunity of teachers’ postings against administrative posts. Mr Kazmi said the school education department’s various policies had failed because they were formed without the consultation of teachers – the actual stakeholders. Citing examples, he said, most girls had left schooling due to consolidation of schools and many students said goodbye to education due to introduction of English-medium education system in government schools. Punjab School Education Department’s Budget and Planning Deputy Secretary Qaiser Rasheed, on the other hand, asked why teacher unions were against accountability. “The accountability system is introduced to improve standards as well as teachers’ performance,” he said and added that only the delinquent teachers were against accountability. THE College of Home Economics last week organised an awareness seminar on Food Safety, wherein speakers acknowledged that the “home-made food is the best food”.

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