Lahore, The Employees Welfare Association of the Board of Intermediate & Secondary Education (BISE), Lahore, continued its pen-down strike on third consecutive day on Friday, protesting against the non-issuance of grants to the boards by the government.

The Lahore board employees, like the employees of seven other BISEs, are on strike on the call of the Employees Federation of Educational Boards Punjab (EFEBP) and protesting against the non issuance of grants to the boards in the wake of the chief minister’s decision to abolish examination and registration fees of public sector educational institutions’ students. In a press statement issued here, BISE Lahore’s Employees Welfare Association president Aslam Gujjar and General Secretary Ikram ul Haq said the government had, in fact, overburdened the boards after giving fee-waiver to the students.

They said conduct of exams and remuneration to the examination staff was given out of students’ fee. “How will the boards bear all this if they are not allowed to receive fee from the students?î they asked. They said the BISEs employees had a meeting with the Higher Education secretary on August 3, 2009 who had assured that the grants would be issued to the boards. “It is unfortunate that despite the passage of four months no grant have been given to the boards”, they added.