PESHAWAR: Hundreds of primary schoolteachers from across the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province staged a protest sit-in near Jinnah Park here on Tuesday to press for their post upgradation demand.

They warned that if the demand was not met, they would spend the night on the road and march towards the nearby provincial assembly building on Wednesday (today) for a sit-in.

The sit-in was staged on a service road next to the Jinnah Park on the Grand Trunk Road, accusing the government of forcing them into taking to the streets by not fulfilling its commitment on their post upgradation.

All Primary Teachers Association Khyber Pakhtunkhwa president Azizullah told Dawn that thousands of teachers were taking part in the protest.

Threaten to stage sit-in outside PA today

He claimed that earlier, primary teachers from across the provincial capital made arrangements for the night stay of protesters from other areas in a primary school but the elementary and secondary education minister forced the district education officer not to allow that.

Mr Aziz alleged that the education department had threatened to lodge an FIR against the teachers opening schools for the purpose.

“As a protest against this move of the education department, we [protesters] have decided to spend tonight on the road,” he said.

The teacher leader said that Tuesday’s protest was peaceful.

He, however, warned that if the education department didn’t meet the upgradation demand, then the protesters would march up to the gate of the provincial assembly and stage a sit-in there on Wednesday (today).

Mr Aziz also said that a large number of women teachers would join the protest on Wednesday.

He also claimed that the teachers of over 25,000 primary schools across the province were on strike, so no classes were held on Tuesday.

“Our strike will continue until our demands are accepted,” he said.

The association leader said that the education department had agreed to teacher post upgradation demand but the commitment wasn’t fulfilled due to the “reluctance” of the finance department.

He said that the teachers held talks with the officials of the education department and district administration, but they remained inconclusive.

Mr Aziz said that the finance department’s claim that the up-gradation of primary schoolteachers would cost Rs30 billion per annum was false as the annual cost of the move was estimated to be around Rs8-Rs9 billion.

In August this year, the provincial cabinet reversed the last elected government’s decision to upgrade over 130,000 positions of schoolteachers in the province.

“The decision of the Jan 17, 2023, cabinet meeting for upgrading various educational cadre employees in the education department has been withdrawn in view of legal and administrative anomalies identified by the finance department,” read an official statement issued here after the cabinet’s meeting chaired by Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur.

The cabinet of former chief minister Mahmood Khan had approved the upgradation of primary teacher posts from BPS-12 to BPS-14, benefitting 51,736 teachers across the province.

Last month, primary teachers staged street protests across the province to push for their demands, especially post upgradation, and warned that if the government didn’t accept their demands by Oct 31, they would converge on the provincial capital on Nov 5 to demonstrate.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2024