Senate standing committee on education to discuss the issues on 7th
Zubair Qureshi
Hundreds of teachers working in the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) administered schools and colleges on Thursday staged a protest demonstration outside the Parliament House demanding annulment of a new ordinance regarding an amendment in the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Act, 2015.
Under the new ordinance, the FDE Director-General (DG) will be appointed in consultation with the Islamabad Mayor.
Teachers’ protest against the transfer of administrative control of the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) to Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) has now entered the third day.
During all these days, the academic activities remained suspended in all government educational institutions of the federal capital.
The ongoing protests are part of a strike called by the Joint Action Committee – a teacher’s representative body.
‘Free the Teacher’ and ‘Revoke Draconian Ordinance aiming to do away with civil servant status of Teachers’ were among the slogans chanted on the occasion.
The protesting teachers were holding placards and posters denouncing the orfinance that seeks to pit the FDE under the administrative control of the Mayor of Islamabad.
On the occasion clashes between the police and the protesting teachers also took place.
Earlier the teachers also took out a rally from the National Press Club (NPC) to D-Chowk and removed barbed wires and barricades.
Representatives of the FDE joint action committee, which has given the protest call, said that the federal government did not take them in the loop before sealing the fate of their future as public servants.
They said that they will fight tooth and nail to get the decision reversed. They said that the decision has hung their future in the balance, as, the MCI was already facing a financial crunch and was barely able to pay the salaries of its staff.
Meanwhile, Senator Irfan Siddiqui Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Education and Professional Training has taken notice of the problems faced by protesting teachers in Islamabad.
Meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Education and Professional Training has been scheduled for 7th of December and the special agenda issued for the meeting included discussion on the issues of protesting teachers and other staff of hundreds of schools in Islamabad.
