PESHAWAR: Sarhad College Teachers Association (SCTA) has announced to observe Salam Teachers Day as black day in the province in protest against the non-acceptance of the demands of teachers’ community of the province.An announcement to this effect was made during a special meeting of the association held here Monday with President Sabz Ali Khan in the chair.Speaking on the occasion, Sabz Ali said Teachers Day is celebrated across the globe with the aim to pay homage to those associated with the noble profession of teaching. He further said that teachers are considered as builders of the nation and facilitated in every possible way in the developed countries of the world.However, he lamented, the situation was completely different in the country where teachers had been deprived of their basic rights.The teachers’ leader said that despite repeated assurances by the government nothing had been done to address the grievances of the teachers’ community, which has long been striving for their genuine demands.Sabiz Ali said that almost 1200 posts of lectures were lying vacant in various colleges of the province but the authorities concerned were least interested to fill them.He further said that the health insurance policy introduced by the government had completely failed as the association had rejected it before its implementation, adding that the authorities did not bother to take the SCTA into confidence in appointments made for FATA.How can teachers celebrate Teachers Day when they are deprived of their basic rights.
The meeting reiterated that the struggle would continue for achieving quality education, addressing the problems being faced by the teachers and also for the rights of teachers.
Meanwhile, in a massage on the eve of Teachers Day, Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani urged teachers to vigorously pursue their national obligation of projecting nationalism to defeat forces of extremism and terrorism.”We cannot and should not allow this small minority to dictate its pernicious agenda to the peaceful majority,” Gillani added.
There can be no better national service than creating a spirit of unity and nationhood among people, the Prime Minister, further saying he has great expectations from teachers as they have risen up to the challenge in the past and hoped that they can do the same now – Statesman
