The protesting teachers of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) have refused to budge from their stance and vowed that they will not end their protest until a notification for their promised elevation has been issued.
The students of the militancy-ridden area may have to suffer for a long time due to the closure of schools across the FATA region, as the federal government appears to be in no mood to settle the long-standing issue of the teachers’ elevation. None of the government promises regarding making the teachers permanent and increasing their scale have materialised yet.
For the last 23 days, they have been protesting in front of Islamabad Press Club against the FATA Secretariat and the SAFRON Ministry for not elevating them even though the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government elevated its teachers in 2012.
Parliamentarians of various political parties especially lawmakers from FATA have visited the sit-in on a daily basis to express solidarity with the protesters. However, there is little chance for an actual resolution of the issue because of the lack of budgetary allocations for FATA.
THE INJUSTICE:
The teachers in FATA are mostly from KP. They work in the tribal areas on deputation basis. Therefore, under the rules, any changes that apply to the teaching staff in KP also apply to FATA. But that has not happened since 2012 and now the protesting teachers are not only demanding an elevation in grade, they also want arrears that have been pending.
Talking to Pakistan Today FATA Teachers Association President Malik Khan Mahsud said that they had been lied to by the concerned authorities time and again in the past; hence, they would not leave the place until getting a copy of the notification of their elevation.
He said that SAFRON Minister Abdul Qadir Baloch as well as Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani had promised the teachers to fulfil their demands last year but it is appalling that the issue is still pending while the two are little bothered to honor their words.
Mahsud said that a total of 24,000 tribal teachers have been deprived of their due rights and vowed to continue a sit-in in Islamabad and tribal areas until their demands are accepted. He said that heads of other teachers’ associations are in close contact and have assured them of their full support for the resolution of their demands.
TEACHERS HAVE HAD ENOUGH:
“The teachers of the settled areas were upgraded in 2012 by the KP government with the issuance of a notification but the FATA teachers have been waiting for up-gradation for the last four years despite protests and press conferences,” he regretted.
However, he made it clear that this time around they will continue their protest demonstrations and close the schools until their demands are met.
The teachers got very excited Tuesday night and started greeting one another as they heard that Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar himself could arrive there anytime with a notification of their up-gradation. However, their excitement proved short-lived because a delegation of the FATA parliamentarians arrived carrying a message that the protestors should end their sit-in as the government had accepted their demand “in principle”.
To this, the protesting teachers categorically stated that they will leave the protest camp only when they are handed the copy of the notification, because they could not trust the hollow promises of the government’s high-ups anymore.
