Reservations of teachers about Education Services Act will be removed: Atif Khan
PESHAWAR, 20 September: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Education Minister Atif Khan said on Tuesday that reservations of teachers on Education Services Act will be removed and the Act will be brought after thorough consultations in accordance with legal procedure.
Addressing a press conference jointly with KP Information Minister Shah Farman at Peshawar Press Club, Atif Khan said all the reports about privatisation of education sector and doing away with civil servants and pensions are fictitious. However, he said some teachers are indulging in politics instead of teaching students. The minister said the copies of the proposed Act have been distributed among teachers and the government will try to remove the clauses over which the teachers will have objections. He made it clear that no compromise will be made on the education of children. He said rumour mongers should first confirm reports before making an opinion.
“We are even trying to regularise the contractual employees contrary to rumours that we are turning permanent jobs into contractual jobs. It is only a proposed Act and we have also advertised it in newspapers and asked teachers to pinpoint lacunas and we will try to remove them,” the minister said.
Meanwhile, the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), an ally of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government in KP, has rejected the proposed Act out rightly, terming it a cruel Act. The JI ameer for Peshawar Mushtaq Ahmed Khan said the proposed Act is like depriving 150,000 employees and their families from their livelihood. He said Civil Servants Act 1973 should stay and it should not be changed.
Teachers in KP have staged several protests against the proposed Act. Teachers have also threatened to boycott classes after Muharram if the proposed Act was not cancelled.