LAHORE: Injustice against teachers would not be tolerated and the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) would table a bill on the board of governors (BoG) issue and police torture of teachers and students in the Senate, PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said on Monday. He made these remarks while talking to journalists after meeting a delegation of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of teachers and students. He said that the Punjab government had no respect for the teaching community and government-owned schools and colleges were being distributed amongst favourite party men for political gains who would use these valuable public properties for personal interests.
Shujaat said that the PML-Q would not let the Punjab government implement its heinous plans and reiterated that the party would raise the issue in parliament and at every other forum.
The PML-Q president pointed out that on the one hand, the Punjab government was hell bent on handing over government-owned educational institutions to its hooligans and on the other hand there were 42 school and college buildings, which had been completed during former Punjab CM Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi’s tenure but had not been provided staff until now. He offered the Punjab government to remove Elahi’s plaques from the educational institutions if that was the only barrier in making the institutions functional.
Shujaat called the handing over of government-owned educational institutions to the BoG a “tyrannical decision” of the Punjab government and said that institution principals or teachers were not consulted in this regard.
PML-Q Secretary General Mushahid Hussain Syed called the continued violence against teachers and students a “cowardly act” of the Punjab government. He said that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leadership, which had assured loyalty to the US and given protection to sugar thieves had no hesitation in using brute force against educated people of the province, as part of its double standard politics. PML-Q leader Kamil Ali Agha asked that after privatisation of government-run educational institutions, what would poor students of the province do?
Earlier, Punjab Teachers & Students JAC President Dr Zahid Ahmad appreciated steps taken during Elahi’s government for promotion of education including provision of free books, scholarships for deserving students and declaring education free up to matriculation. He said that instead of the Punjab CM, aggrieved teachers and students were forced to talk to Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah and Punjab Education Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman.
He called the two ministers “puppets” who reported to the Punjab education secretary. Zahid said that if their demands were not met by December 31, teachers and students would have no choice but to start a movement against the Punjab government. He thanked the PML-Q leadership for supporting the just demands of teachers and students of Punjab.
