KP teachers announce to shut down academic process across province

PESHAWAR: The All-Primary Teachers Association (APTA) has announced that they will close 26,000 boys’ and girls’ schools across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) from November 5 until their demands are resolved, here on Tuesday.

As per the details, APTA also plans to hold a protest sit-in at Jinnah Park. This decision was taken during a meeting of provincial officials of the association chaired by President Azizullah Khan at the provincial secretariat.

Azizullah Khan termed the upcoming sit-in as a historic event, with key demands including issuance of upgradation notification, regularization of 13,500 teachers, restoration of forced promotions, and restoration of the “Fargo Option”. The protest aims to stop privatization of primary schools, ensure class-wise appointment of teachers in each primary school, and create senior primary school teacher posts with specific codes in merged districts. Additionally, they are demanding that teachers regularized under the 2022 Act be included in the General Provident (GP) Fund.

A large number of APTA members, including women teachers, are expected to attend, with strong commitment to the sit-in, which is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. On November 5 at Jinnah Park, Peshawar. The protest will continue indefinitely, regardless of the outcome. All 26,000 primary schools will remain closed from this date.

However, APTA is open to productive negotiations, stressing that they prefer dialogue to protest. Earlier this month, teachers across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa staged protests, which threatened to shut down thousands of schools and paralyze the province’s education system. Their demands include promotion of senior teachers and abolition of contributory pension fund.