VIEW: Lashing out at teachers —Nizamuddin Nizamani
The basic demands of the protesting teachers that they should be treated at par with their counterparts in urban areas in Sindh, as well as those in Punjab and Balochistan, are logical
Shocking media clips on May 27, 2010, presented a harrowing and ugly scene of brute use of force against the peacefully protesting aggrieved teaching community in front of the Governor’s House in Karachi, and Khairpur, the hometown of chief minister Sindh, simultaneously.
Unarmed and peaceful 15,000 teachers, representing a total of 99,000, had gathered from all over Sindh, who were ruthlessly attacked, resulting in 40 teachers being seriously injured and more than a hundred arrested. The magnitude of torture used against them reminded me of the Zia regime’s naked use of force against the people demanding the restoration of democracy through elections. However, the current tragic action was ordered by the democratically elected government against the very voters who brought it into power.
Reportedly, teachers resorted to street protests after the failure of repeated meetings between the provincial education minister and their representatives. Every time he agreed to their demands but later backed out. After the protest, about 23 teachers, including Mr Rafique Jarwar, president Primary Teacher’s Association (PTA), sat for a hunger strike unto death at the Karachi Press Club. Many of them have been shifted to hospital. One tried to commit suicide and got seriously injured.
It would be interesting to note that the protesters were not demanding the heavens from the government but were pressing for materialisation of the very demands that were already agreed to by the government two years back, but the sitting Education Minister Pir Mazharul Haq has been allegedly procrastinating on the matter on one pretext or another.
The basic demands of the protesting teachers that they should be treated at par with their counterparts in urban areas in Sindh, as well as those in Punjab and Balochistan, are logical. Distances in rural areas are long with poor infrastructure and transport facilities, but the teachers are not entitled to conveyance allowance, whereas teachers in cities get a fixed allowance of Rs 2,480. Despite higher living cost in rural areas, teachers are allowed house rent, which is 30 percent of their salaries compared to 45 percent given in urban centres. The teachers in urban areas are also entitled to teaching allowance but the teachers in rural areas are deprived of this benefit as well. Surprisingly, there is no medical allowance for the teaching community. The representatives of PTA and Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association (SPLA) also accuse the minister of nepotism, as he has posted junior teachers from his constituency to a dozen districts as district education officers.
The second major demand pertains to the promotions linked with time scale and seniority. They expect to be promoted after certain years in one scale as practised in Balochistan and Punjab. Is this too much they are demanding? Certainly not, but social development and education has never been a priority in Pakistan. Musharraf’s era saw some investments in education but, according to recent reports issued by the Social Policy Development Centre (SPDC), those investments were selective, wherein tertiary education through the Higher Education Commission (HEC) was given priority at the cost of primary and secondary education. As a result of these policies, we have witnessed a decline in primary education, which naturally affects secondary and tertiary education too.
We are supposed to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 and as per the provisions of the second MDG, after five years all children in Pakistan should complete a full course of primary schooling. Recent figures collected by the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) show a gloomy situation that one-third of lecturers’ slots are lying vacant. We need to recruit lecturers to meet the current requirement followed by the expansion of this sector. Given the current state of affairs, one seriously doubts that the MDGs would be achieved.
The government has acknowledged the existence of thousands of ghost schools and teachers, but never empathetically investigated this phenomenon to realise that fewer incentives and pathetic circumstances encountered by the teaching community would result in ghost schools. Corruption at all levels, from recruitments to transfers, is the order of the day in this department, like many others.
The Sindh Assembly witnessed arguments and brawls on this issue, where Jam Madad Ali, leader of the opposition, criticised the government and offered his services for arbitration, but to no avail. The education minister bemoans that meeting the teachers’ demand would cost an additional Rs 1 billion on budget, but how will they utilise the additional Rs 74 billion granted to the province though the NFC Award is yet to be responded to by the provincial government. Dr Kaiser Bengali, advisor on planning, needs to look into this financial matter.
Napoleon implored, “Give me good mothers and I will give you a good nation.” His quote improvised by intellectual Syed Muzafar-ul-Hassan says, “Give me good teachers and I will give you a good nation.” Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah stated: “Education is the foundation of a nation. A nation without education is like a land without cultivation.” Unfortunately, we have forgotten the Quaid’s messages and priorities.
The reaction from the president and prime minister’s secretariat about the brute use of force against the aggrieved teaching community is yet to come. However, one wonders what would have been the reaction of late Benazir Bhutto, had she been alive and saw the bleeding teachers, both male and female.
Based on Benazir’s vision for the people, one would expect a befitting response from the prime minister and president, including an inquiry against the perpetrators of this human rights abuse, followed by the acceptance of all the legitimate demands of the teaching community.
The writer holds a master’s degree in social sciences and is a professional trainer, researcher and peace activist. He may be contacted at nizambaloch@gmail.com
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