Gujrat, 10th November 2024
Hundreds of teachers under the banner of the Grand Teachers Alliance (GTA) Punjab staged a massive protest and sit-in outside the Civil Secretariat, demanding reversal of various ‘controversial’ policies introduced by the Punjab government. Teachers from across the province rallied to express concerns at the government’s failure to implement agreements made with them in the past.
The core issues of the protesting educators included unconditional promotions for senior subject specialists educators (SSSEs) and assistant education officers (AEOs), time-scale promotions and in-service promotions for all teacher cadres, pay and service protection, upgrade of teacher cadres, restoration of leave encashment and pension reforms, income tax reforms for teachers, recruitment of new teachers, rehabilitation of school infrastructure, establishment of new science and computer labs and issuance of a computer allowance and head teacher allowance.
The teachers opposed the handover of the privatization to the NGOs, expressing concerns at its impact on education quality and job security. The ongoing teacher transfer round had been described as chaotic and mentally exhausting for educators.
These new experiments will destroy the education system,” said one of the leaders who added that the teachers were left with no choice but to protest for their rights and for the future of education in the province
The privatization initiative is part of a broader strategy by the Punjab government, which aims to eventually transfer 13,219 schools to private management. Looking ahead, the government has plans to privatize another 15,000 schools by 2025.
However, this move faced strong resistance from teachers’ organisations, who believed that privatisation would harm the quality of education and threaten educators’ job security.
Best Regards,
Zia Syed
Secretary General
