Teachers long march on Islamabad

FDE teachers demand up-gradation before budget
Islamabad, May 30: Teachers of different institutes working under the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) have demanded of the government to implement the teachers package especially up-gradation of BS-16 and above through time scale promotion formula (TSPF) before the upcoming budget.

The teachers' package which included up-gradation, merger of FG and Model set-ups, abolition of evening shifts, enhancement of in-charge allowance and hard area allowance and provision of transport facility was announced by the government last year but not fully implemented yet. The teachers have become frustrated after holding several protests for their genuine right of promotions and are now pinning the hope on the newly appointed Director General FDE Atif Mehmood Kiyani for resolving their issues.

"We are waiting for the promotion letters as the Finance Ministry and the Establishment Division had already approved the decision regarding the teachers up-gradation. However, the matter is now stuck due to lack of will on the part of authorities to implement it," said a group of teachers while talking to the APP.

The teachers' package has been termed a first-ever historical initiative for introducing a unified system of education in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) to make it an example to follow by others.

It was reflective of the government' seriousness towards the uplift of education as well as teachers community but it seems that the efforts to get it implemented will go into vain, they said.

Press Secretary Federal Government College Teachers Association (FGCTA) Professor Tahir said the associations and teachers community have launched several protests to get the package implemented and now the file of up-gradation is lying with Establishment Secretary Abdur Rauf Chaudhry after approval from the Capital Administration Development Division (CADD).

Only few days are left in announcement of the budget and the summer vacation will also be started from June 1, Tahir said. According to the package, the federal government and model educational institutions were supposed to be merged but only FG schools have been renamed as model schools.

While the facilities including infrastructure and faculty have not been changed due to which the parents are hesitant to admit their children in renamed institutes, Tahir said.

The new academic year has already begun, but the evening shifts in the model institutes are continuing despite several announcements to abandon the same through shifting the evening students to nearby renamed model schools.

It was a long-standing demand of the parents to end evening shifts in the model colleges as the students were suffering due to odd timings, he said.