Private schools pay less then Rs 6,000 minimum wage
Private schools not paying minimum wage to faculty
Lahore, July 18: Although the government has fixed minimum wage of labour at Rs 6,000,
teachers in many private schools have not benefited from this decision.
There are many private schools in Lahore which disregard the
government-implemented minimum wage and exploit their teachers. The
number of private schools registered with the Education Department is
5,500 in the Lahore district according to available data. According to
sources in the Education Department, there are many schools in the city
-including those with a large number of enrolled students- that pay
their teachers only Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 and complain of few resources
and many expenses. There are also a large number of schools
which have charged their students full fees during the summer vacation
and have either not paid their teachers or paid them less than their
fixed salaries. Afia Ihsan, a teacher at a private school,
said most of the students at this school submitted their fees before
the summer vacation. However, the school management paid only half the
salaries to the teachers. She said there were many graduate teachers
who were paid less than Rs 6,000 in private schools Shabana
Nadeem, a Bachelor of Arts (BA) teacher with years of teaching
experience, said her salary was less than Rs 6,000. She said teachers'
salaries increased with the passage of time in the government sector,
but there was no such mechanism in the private sector. Nadeem said the
government should bring private schools under its control and ensure
that the minimum wage policy is implemented in private schools. Inaccurate
figures: Lahore Executive District Officer (Education) (EDO) Muhammad
Arshad said many private schools in the city defied the minimum wage
policy. He said such schools presented inaccurate figures of their
teachers' salaries before being registered, and later did not correct
these. Arshad said action could be taken against such schools. All
Pakistan Private School Management Association (APPSMA) Chairman Adeeb
Jawadani said many schools in the city did not comply with the minimum
wage policy. He said inspection teams which visited schools before
registration should only register them based on merit and schools
comprising two or three rooms should not be registered. "Government
schools do not cater to the education requirements of all the children,
so private schools are necessary. However, the school inspectors should
not take bribes and should register schools only on merit," Jawadani
said.
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PU Law College lecturer escapes from court
Lahore: Punjab University (PU) Law College lecturer Khujista Rehan on
Friday managed to escape from the court of an additional district and
sessions judge who cancelled her interim bail in a case registered
against her with New Muslim Town police. According to details, Rehan —
also the PU girls hostel number 9 superintendent, had gotten a
three-day interim bail until Friday. She appeared before the court for
confirmation of her bail but the court instead ordered her arrest.
However, she managed to flee from the court premises. On July 10, an
FIR was registered against Rehan on the complaint of hostel employees
for allegedly torturing hostel number 9 warden Dr Farah. Rehan was
accused of thrashing Farah and hitting her with a paperweight.
According to the FIR, she also issued life threats to the warden and
disappeared after the incident. Daily Times
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Survey to assess literacy status
Lahore: Commissioner Khusro Pervaiz Khan has said a survey is
being launched in collaboration with the Japan International
Cooperation Agency (Jica) to assess the status of literacy level and
quality of education in the province. The survey in the provincial metropolis will begin from union council No. 148 from July 20 (Monday).
The commissioner has formed an eight-member team headed by DCO Sajjad
Ahmad Bhutta and consisting of literacy, education, health and
community development EDOs, literacy district officer and officials of
the government's research wing. The Japanese delegation is being headed
by Heroshi Okokawa. Jica experts said the survey had been
completed in four districts - Khushab, Mandi Bahauddin, Khanewal and
Dera Ghazi Khan - and recommendations had been finalised. The
commissioner directed the committee members to conduct a detailed
survey of all union councils in Lahore district about schools, where
the students' enrolment was less, furniture and building were in
disrepair and problems being faced by students and other issues. He
directed the committee to submit a report in this regard within one
month. Dawn
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