200 contract teachers ‘sacked’ in Kurram Agency

PARACHINAR: Two hundred teachers, inducted nearly seven years ago in the state-run schools on contract basis, were sacked in the violence-hit Kurram Agency on Thursday.

Sources said the teachers had been appointed on contract basis to make up for the lack of staff in the government schools in Kurram Agency in 2004 after proper procedure of tests and interviews. The sources said the education department in Kurram sacked the teachers with effect from June 30, 2010.

Two of the sacked teachers, Tajir Hussain and Zamin Hussain, told The News that when they contacted the agency education officials in this regard, they said they had nothing to do with this matter as it had been done by the high-ups of the education department.

Meanwhile, this scribe tried to contact Agency Education Officer Muhammad Afzal several times but he was unavailable to comment on the issue.

The social and political circles expressed their concern over the government decision, arguing that the education of children was already at stake in the area because of violence. They said the decision would not only affect the students but also the poor families of the teachers whose jobs were terminated.

The teachers and tribal elders asked the federal and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments to take note of the issue and withdraw the termination order of the teachers to save the future of children in Kurram Agency.