GILGIT: The Gilgit-Baltistan Teachers Association (GBTA) on Thursday demanded judicial investigations into making teachers scapegoat and concealing the facts about poor exam results.
The demand was made during an emergency meeting of the GBTA held in Gilgit on Thursday.
The meeting, presided over by GBTA General Secretary Mohammad Ayub, was attended by presidents and general secretaries of the association from all districts of Gilgit-Baltistan.
The meeting rejected the recent notification issued by the Services Department, bearing No. SOA&E-94/12/025-Services, which imposed harsh penalties on teachers.
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The GBTA termed the notification as “unjust” and demanded its withdrawal.
The G-B education department had taken disciplinary actions against 25 school heads over poor results in Grade 9 announced last year.
The penalties included forced retirement, demotion in pay scale, stoppage of annual increments, and warnings.
The meeting was “surprised by the process of placing the entire burden of poor results on teachers and completely ignoring ground realities”.
It considered the concealment of facts as hostile to teachers and demanded a judicial inquiry to uncover these facts.
The G-B teachers categorically rejected the recent results of the Gilgit-Baltistan Elementary Board and expresses its displeasure over the formulation of policies without the involvement of teachers.
The meeting demanded that instead of taking exams of only three failed subjects, exams of all failed subjects should be conducted, or the board’s previous policy should be reinstated and the results re-tabulated.
The GBTA meeting declareed that abruptly imposing “harsh, unlawful, and unnecessary penalties, while disregarding legal and technical procedures”, was unacceptable and contrary to administrative laws.
The G-B teachers said such type of punishments were unprecedented nationwide.
The association said imposition of harsh penalties on teachers would create a shortage of subject specialists in schools in the future. Instead, the GBTA demanded the introduction of a monitoring and evaluation system.
The meeting also expressed concern over the future of higher education in Gilgit-Baltistan, saying that the imposition of “harsh penalties on teachers would discourage qualified teachers from teaching in higher classes”.
The association urged the chief minister, governor, and chief secretary of Gilgit-Baltistan to issues orders for withdrawal the notification and address the concerns of the teaching community.