Following in footsteps of the Young Doctors’ Association (YDA), different teacher unions of Punjab staged protests at the Punjab Civil Secretariat and 90 Shahrah-e-Quaid-e-Azam in favour of their demands on Saturday. Hundreds of teachers gathered outside the CM’s House and Civil Secretariat and chanted slogans in favour of their demands of salary increases and revisions to pay scales. The Muttahida Usatza Mahaz (MUM) and Joint Action Committee (JAC) of teachers organised the rallies.
Teachers gathered from all over Punjab and threatened to boycott intermediate practical exams if their demands were not met. Teachers had earlier spoken against conducting the census and polio campaigns. The traffic flow was also disturbed during the protest. Citizens claimed that protests on a daily basis were making life miserable for traders and office-going people in the tumultuous heat. Teachers demanded restoration of contractual teachers and awarding permanent status to contract teachers.
A large number of women teachers also joined the protest and chanted slogans against the Punjab government and the CM. MUM office-bearers said that they would tolerate the anti-education policies of the Punjab government. They said that teachers were being deprived off basic necessities, which should be fulfilled by the state. A teacher said that a lot of time of teachers has been wasted while conducting polio campaigns and census, which is not only troubling teachers but also wasting precious time of students. He claimed that teaching is a respectable profession but unfortunately it is being abused by the Punjab government.
