PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) agreed to delay the implementation of proposed reforms after protests by the educational boards’ employees, a local media outlet reported on Tuesday.
The strikes have prevented the conduction of intermediate examinations across the province. After assurances by the government that the proposed reforms would not be finalised without resolving their reservations, the strikes were called off.
“The chairmen of the seven education boards have unanimously decided to delay the intermediate examinations as preparations for the same were immediately halted owing to the strike,” said Peshawar Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Chairman Professor Fazl Rehman.
He explained that the examinations would be held from 25 April rather than 20 April and that the reservations of the employees would be resolved.
“The higher-ups of the education department and the speaker of the provincial assembly convinced us that the proposed bill would not be tabled in the house without our consultation,” said Board of Employees Coordination Council Chairman Tariq Safi.
The government’s plan to subordinate the authority of the educational boards under the education department was one of the reasons why the employees had protested against the bill.
“The service structure of the board employees was also disturbed by the government,” said Safi.
Several bills were proposed by the education department to the assembly secretariat for legislation.
“The speaker has assured the employees that he will avoid tabling the bills while the education department will not insist to table the same,” said an official.
The speaker made the promise after listening to the demands of the protesters, who had argued that their views were not taken into account in the formulation of policies.
Senior officials at the education department agreed not to table the bills after a meeting with Teachers’ Grand Alliance President Samiullah Khalil.
He explained that senior officials agreed the two proposed bills regarding the service structure would not be tabled without taking their reservations into account.
“We will again take to the streets if the education department wants to table the proposed bills,” he added.
Professor Fazl Rehman, while responding to a question about the delay in examination, said that the boards were not prepared to conduct the examinations owing to the strike and that the logistics for the examinations would be finalised within the coming days.
