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A group of teachers and students from Gilgit Baltistan (GB) in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) organised massive protests against the deteriorating educational infrastructure in the region.
The protest was organised outside the Chief Minister's Secretariat in Gilgit City. The protestors raised alarm over the non-payment of salaries, a severe shortage of teaching staff in several schools, improper rules regarding the promotion of teaching personnel and not following mutually agreed upon conditions. During the protest, slogans were raised demanding the filling of empty teacher posts. A representative of teachers and students at the protest stated, "They give us fake promises, we demand the education department send us more teachers but none of our demands have been met. The only ones responsible for such ignorance are the corrupt officials of the education department. We have never demanded anything wrong; they have forced us to protest. We are very worried about the future of our kids. Hence, we have always believed that education will always be our priority. As only education can end our struggles and problems". "Today, these ignorant authorities have forced us to come to them and protest for our rights. They are wasting the precious time of these kids, which must be invested in their studies," he added. Additionally, the teacher representatives also organised a press conference in the Diamer district to bring their demands to light. Raising their concerns, the protestors said, "In a previous discussion with the authorities, some of our colleagues in GB were awarded the 16th pay scale after a court order. However, the higher authorities in Gilgit Baltistan are not ready to uphold the court's orders. Hence, we are forced to organize a protest for putting our demands in front of these authorities." The protestors further warned that if their demands were not met, they would be forced to hit the streets and halt all the classes. Another teacher said during the press conference that they are raising their voices across the districts of Gilgit Baltistan. "The people who belong to the teaching profession in GB today are extremely vulnerable. For example, there are more than 2000 pending cases filed by teachers in GB. If our rights had been given to us by the authorities on time, then we would never be here protesting like this. We know that protests of this kind affect the education of these students," a protesting teacher said. "Because of the absence of set rules to address the problem of teacher promotions in GB, higher authorities have been indulging in favouritism to promote teachers. There are teachers amongst us, who have been working on the same pay scale for over 25 years," another teacher added. (ANI)
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