SC rejects Punjab’s reply in teachers’ salary case

Posted on 9 months ago

M. Fazal-ur-Rahman
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Friday rejected Punjab government’s reply in teachers’ salary case and directed it to resolve the issue till Aug 15.
The apex court expressed its concerns over low salary of teachers and observed that Punjab government should close schools if it could not provide salaries to teachers.
A three member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry heard the case pertaining to the issue of salaries of teachers of Sargodha divisional public school.
Chief justice remarked that Punjab government should close schools if they can’t provide salaries to teachers and the students and teachers of these schools should be shifted to other schools.
During the hearing, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry directed Chief Secretary Punjab to convene a meeting of the Board of Governors of the schools to resolve the matter.
The Chief Secretary Tahir Khosa informed the court that Divisional Public School Sargodha was an autonomous institute, not a government’s school.
He said 42 such schools, which are functional in the province, are not given any financial support by the provincial government. The chief secretary said only Board of Governors could increase salaries of teachers.
However, the bench rejected the chief secretary’s reply and remarked: “Shut the schools if you can’t raise salaries.”
The CJP remarked that the court would issue an order if the Punjab government did nothing.
The Chief Justice asked Punjab chief secretary Tahir Khosa about the steps taken by provincial government in the field of education. He questioned why the teachers were being paid four thousand only?
The Chief Justice remarked that there was a lack of interest in the education sector and it was the obligation of the chief executive to end exploitation and make policy.
He told the chief secretary that his reply was not satisfactory. He said it was not fair with the teachers to pay them 4,000 per month. Chief Justice said the issue will be referred to chief executive. The case was adjourned till August 15.

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