The teachers union of Rawalpindi district, expressing grave concerns over the merger of schools under the policy of ‘rationalization’, on Sunday threatened to initiate protests if the policy was not reversed. Leaders of the teachers union, including Malik Muhammad Sabir, Shafiq Bhalwalia and Choudhry Zafar, demanded of the Punjab government to cancel the policy of ‘rationalization’ and recruit more teachers against the vacant seats in the district. They said that if even a single teacher was transferred, the act would result in severe protests throughout the district. It is worth mentioning here that the Punjab Education Department has started working on the merger of 35 higher secondary schools of boys and girls in Rawalpindi district on the basis of ‘rationalization’. A committee has been formed to shortlist the teachers for the ‘rationalization’ in this regard, which is headed by Choudhry Yaseen, Principal Jamia High School Dhoke Kashmirian. The committee is to shortlist teachers of the district to be transferred to other schools in the first phase. Earlier, the department had closed down 67 primary, middle and high schools running in private buildings and with low numbers of students in the district due to the severe financial crisis.
