Unfortunately, in our society, a teacher is considered a low-class person. Because the teachers do not have the privileges that other employees have here in Pakistan. Whether a teacher is a government employee or a teacher in a private school, he is paid a very unaffordable salary. Teachers have been neglected here for a long time.

Balochistan, which is a hotbed of problems, is still suffering from an inferiority complex. Here people are forced to leave their homes as a form of protest for their moralities. After every budget, the salaries of employees are increased across the country, except in Balochistan, where sit-ins are also held for their rights. However, there are so many problems of teachers that the government has to solve immediately.

Different organizations are working to solve several problems faced by the teachers of Balochistan.  Be it the issue of teachers’ permanence or increase in salary or the issue of up-gradation of teachers, a lot of efforts have been made by every organization. The problems here are not solved by themselves, unity, trust and harmony are necessary to solve them. Therefore, the establishment of these organizations is mandatory.

Teachers across Balochistan are still deprived of upgradation. JV teachers across Balochistan are working in basic scale 9 and other junior teachers are in scale 14 and other primary teachers of other provinces are working in grade 14 and other junior cadre teachers are working in grade 16 and are being further promoted. First of all, the teachers are not being promoted here, after a lot of struggle, those teachers who were recruited before 1970 have now been promoted. From this, you can guess that there is nothing in the name of promotion here.

For the past several years, teachers have been protesting on the streets to upgrade them. Back in 2021 the symbolic hunger strike was held by the junior teachers association unfortunately, the minister of that time ended the hunger strike through negotiations, but the demands of teachers could not be solved yet. We are demanding from day one that grade 9 teachers be promoted to grade 14 and grade 14 teachers to grade 16, but no one is paying attention to this. A long march on foot was also conducted in this regard by JTAB but there was no result. Every time they are reassured that the problem will be solved in a few days. In this regard, the director of education also sent a summary to CM Balochistan yet seeking his approval.

Every time this issue has been raised by various members of provincial assembly in the house yet seeking for up-gradation in way of protest. Since 18 July GTAA  is on hunger strike in front of the press club in which old, and disabled teachers are also participating on regular basis. Various personalities from civil society participated in the hunger strike and fully supported the demands and announced that the demands of the teachers are legitimate and paid tribute to the leaders of GTAA for their struggle.

The vice chairman of GTAA Inayatullah Kakar, Anwar Nasir and Abdul Majeed Malkani said that “our protest will continue until the notification of demand notice including up-gradation and the protest will be made more strict. They are sitting on the roads, but the government is helpless in front of two secretaries. And the summary is a victim of the tyranny of the two secretaries and especially the law secretary is bent on failing the provincial government and the law secretary is forcing us to intensify our protest. He appealed to the teachers of Balochistan that the protest of GTAA Balochistan is for all the teachers and this protest is for teachers as well as students and this protest will also improve the condition of schools.”

The writer is a teacher in the education department