Protest at manhandling of teachers in Landikotal

LANDIKOTAL: All the state-run schools in the Bazaar Zakhakhel in Landikotal subdivision remained closed on the 5th consecutive day as teachers protested against the manhandling of colleagues by the Amn Committee members last week.Talking to this scribe, the Tribal Teachers Association general secretary Naseer Shah Afridi said they had closed 25 state-run schools (both of boys and girls) in the Bazaar Zakhakhel sub-tehsil.He said the decision was taken after All Teachers Association (ATA) core committee unanimously decided to go on a strike against the misbehaviour of Zakhakhel Amn Committee members.The office-bearer said the protest would continue till the culprits were brought to justice. He said they had held talks with the Amn Committee Shura members but that failed to settle the issue. He said three teachers, including a headmaster of the government school, had been manhandled and insulted just because they refused to give a ride to an Amn Committee volunteer in their private car.Naseer Shad Afridi said that if local authorities failed to take action against the accused, the teachers would close down the rest of the schools in the Landikotal tehsil of the Khyber district after two days.Meanwhile, head of the Zakhakhel Amn Committee Haji Khan Muhammad Afridi rejected the allegations levelled against the committee members.He said Amn Committee members had not manhandled the teachers but they just exchanged hot words. However, he said, he had started probing the matter after the complaint by the teachers. The Amn Committee chief said that schools in Bazaar Zakhakhel were facing a shortage of teaching staff and other facilities.He alleged that most of the teachers at the state-run schools were not regularly performing duty. We have great respect for teachers and other government servants who are performing the duty, he added. Haji Khan Muhammad Afridi assured that it was the committee’s obligation to ensure the protection to the government servants, especially teachers.He requested the teachers to call off the strike and reopen schools in Bazaar Zakhakhel. The Amn Committee chief said 25 schools had been closed down last week, affecting studies of hundreds of boy and girl students.

from The News International - National https://ift.tt/2JKkgU7