Pakistan: Teachers protested after not receiving salary for eight months

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has failed to pay salaries to teachers of non-formal girls’ schools in the region for eight months, affecting the future of enrolled students.

“The teachers, who have not received salaries, have been deployed in 2,200 girls’ community schools, 541 Basic Education Center schools (BECS) and 275 National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) schools,” reports The Dawn.

Minimum wage for unskilled labor is Rs. Rs 36,000 fixed by the government but the government is paying. Rs 21,000 to school teachers.

The schools are functioning under the Primary and Secondary Education Foundation (E&SEF).

A senior E&SEF official told The Dawn that the government was reluctant to release funds for the foundation when it needed Rs 2 billion to pay the salaries of school teachers.

he/she further explained that due to the transfer of former E&SEF managing director Zariful Mani, the foundation worked inefficiently and made little efforts to obtain funds from the government.

“Mani had made tireless efforts to revive the moribund foundation as in the past the managing directors had taken no interest in it as they only took good salaries,” the official said.

A teacher lamented that he/she had not received his/her salary since March. She lamented that she had to reach school by public transport and was unable to go by van or rickshaw due to her low salary. “Now we are taking loans from our relatives to meet our basic needs as we have no other source of income,” he/she said.

Teachers told Dawn that they paid rent for the school building because the foundation did not provide any funds for the building. But due to non-payment of salary they are unable to pay the rent.

Many GCS schools have been closed due to non-payment of salaries to teachers. If the government does not pay them salaries immediately, there is a possibility of more schools being closed.