Hundreds of teachers Block the Mall
Lahore :October 06: Huhdreds of schoolteachers blocking the Mall in front of the Punjab Assembly on Saturday organised a protest camp on the occasion of World Teachers Day to protest against the provincial government’s education policies.
The camp was organised by the Punjab Teachers Union (PTU) in which male and female teachers from different parts of the province participated and expressed resentment over, what they termed, government’s anti-teachers and anti-education policies.
The teachers’ protest caused great traffic mess on The Mall and many adjacent roads owing to which commuters had to face difficulties. The charged participants carrying banners and placards inscribed with anti-government statements chanted slogans and severely criticised the government. Their main point of concern was the establishment of District Education Authorities (DAEs) while the schoolteachers also condemned the government for keeping them away from the policy making process.
PTU President Syed Sajjad Akbar Kazmi, Joint Action Committee (JAC) Chairman Rana Muhammad Arshad and other PTU leaders, including Rana Liaquat, said the teachers were never included in the policy making but they were always blamed when the policies failed.
They criticised the government for assigning non-academic duties to teachers, including various kinds of surveys and even the duties related to Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education (USE) campaigns.The news.
