GILGIT, Feb 9: Over 100 teachers including females employed under the Social Action Programme along with their children staged a sit-in outside the office of secretary education Northern Areas demanding reasonable pay and perks here on Monday.

These teachers are at present being paid only Rs1,200 as a remuneration per month.

The Secretary Education, Ejad Asad Rasul, held a meeting with the representatives of the teachers and assured them that all-out efforts would be made to resolve their problems.

When contacted, the secretary education told this correspondent that the issue dated back to August 2003 when World Bank withdrew its assistance to the programme under which 540 community schools had been constructed in the region. —Our Correspondent