Punjab Study

LAHORE:January 13:The Punjab Professors and Lecturers Association (PPLA) on Thursday staged a massive protest demonstration in front of the Punjab Civil Secretariat and warned the Punjab government that they would start academic boycott in all 493 colleges of the province if their demands were not considered on prior basis.

A large number of PPLA office-bearers and professors and lecturers from across the province took part in the really which started from Nasir Bagh and reached the Punjab Civil Secretariat at around 11am. The protesters’ demands included: time scale, one-step up-gradation, regularization of contract teachers and implementation of five-point formula on prior basis. A large number of students from different colleges were also witnessed in PPLA’s rally to show their solidarity with teachers.

The protesting teachers were carrying placards and banners and chanting slogans in the favor of their demands. When the rally reached the Civil Secretariat, they also staged a sit-in.

The PPLA office bearers, while addressing the participants, lamented that the government had been treating college teachers as a step-mother for the last twenty years. They were of the view that the government, after having dialogue with them for two-month, had backtracked from its promise, making them come out on roads again. . They also quoted the Punjab chief minister as having promised to address the issue on priority basis to make up for the injustice done to teachers.

On the occasion, PPLA president Zahid Sheikh asked if judiciary, police, doctors and nurses had been awarded incentives why they (teachers) were not being considered for the same. He announced that teachers would start protest rallies from Friday (today) at all colleges on daily basis until the acceptance of their demands.

The president asked the government immediately consider their ‘due’ demands otherwise they would boycott intermediate and graduation exams and would not take part in paper marking.

Tanzem-e-Usataza Pakistan president Prof Mian Mohammad Akram and its Punjab president Prof Shafique Ahmad, while showing solidarity with the college teachers, asked the Punjab government to address the grievances of teachers so that academic process in the largest province of the country could run smoothly.

In a statement, they shared these remarks after visiting various colleges of the provincial metropolis, terming it unfortunate that the nation builders were on roads for their right, instead of teaching at colleges. The government had forced them to choose the option, he added and expressed hope that the government would consider their demands before teachers went out for classes boycott.The news.