The KP government has ordered immediate suspension of absenteeism among school teachers across the province.
Therefore, the KP Director of Education has directed all district education officers, male and female, to maintain records of teachers participating in the strike and to suspend them from regular school work.
Teachers who do not participate in the strike but do not attend school will also be suspended and will submit a detailed report to the board.
Meanwhile, the primary school teachers’ strike and school closures continued for the second day. The protesters said that the threat of suspension did not deter them, spoke of their experiences of being arrested in accordance with their rights and expressed their willingness to make more sacrifices.
Reports indicate that primary schools in the province, including Peshawar, remain closed due to the protests, but some schools remain open in certain districts.
Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur met with key leaders representing primary school teachers at 10am to discuss the needs of teachers. The meeting was chaired by the Vice President.
Despite the strike and the closure of schools, the Education Minister issued a WhatsApp message claiming that most schools were still functioning, but the state president of All The University said that all primary school students were closed and would remain closed until their demands were met. The association president also warned that teachers were ready to extend their strike if the Education Ministry’s instructions were not changed.
The seat near Jinnah Park was vacated peacefully to reduce public inconvenience.
Meanwhile, the K-P Director of Education reiterated the suspension order against the teachers, but the Minister of Education did not mention the WhatsApp suspension order.
Striking teachers from remote areas made the decision, saying that they had been jailed for their demands in the past and were ready to do it again. They vowed to stay in schools and close them despite threats of closure.
Political leaders have also started joining the teachers’ strike. Awami National Party leader Mian Iftikhar Hussain visited the protest on Wednesday to express his solidarity with the teachers.
The protests began on Tuesday when teachers in primary schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province sought support by shutting down schools and sending students home. All primary schools in the province were closed after the Teachers Association (APTA) announced that they would be closed until their promotion demands were approved.
