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Home Education Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Suspends Over 100,000 Teachers Amid Province-Wide Strike

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Suspends Over 100,000 Teachers Amid Province-Wide Strike

The Elementary and Secondary Education Department considers this behavior unbecoming of educators, undermining the esteemed status of the teaching profession.
By Muhammad Faheem - 07 Nov, 2024 1334
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The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Education Department has suspended government teachers throughout the province who were involved in protests and strikes. Reports on the suspended teachers have been requested from all District Education Officers.

On Tuesday, over 100,000 teachers protested for upgradation, boycotting classes, which led to a suspension of academic activities for more than four million students across 27,000 primary schools. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Education Department issued immediate suspension orders for all protesting teachers who abandoned their teaching duties.

According to the Education Department, certain teachers from primary schools disregarded rules and regulations by disrupting the educational process, citing demands as a pretext for calling protests. The Elementary and Secondary Education Department considers this behavior unbecoming of educators, undermining the esteemed status of the teaching profession. The department emphasized that as government employees, teachers have formal channels and offices for raising issues with the authorities, which can be accessed through legal procedures.

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It should be noted that the province has over 27,000 primary schools, with 22,410 in settled districts and 5,088 in merged tribal districts. These schools cater to more than four million students, including over 3.5 million in settled districts and over 558,000 in tribal areas.

Over 100,000 teachers are employed in these schools, all of whom participated in the protest starting Tuesday. 90,305 primary teachers work in settled districts, including 56,270 male and 34,035 female teachers. In the tribal districts, 10,403 primary teachers are employed, comprising 6,630 male and 3,773 female teachers. This historic suspension of over 100,000 teachers is unprecedented.

Meanwhile, the Young Teachers Association President, Atta-ur-Rehman, expressed profound regret over the government’s suspension order. He stated that if the provincial government, Education Minister, and Director of Elementary and Secondary Education had addressed the teachers’ issues, the teachers would not have taken to the streets. He added that teachers will not be intimidated by suspension orders, stressing that suspensions are temporary, and the government will eventually reinstate them.