Action against absent teachers in chitral demanded

By Zar Alam Khan

ISLAMABAD: The residents in a number of villages in Chitral have called upon the authorities of the education department to take action against teachers of girls’ schools in their respective areas for remaining absent from duty, putting the future of the students at stake.

They said the Government Girls’ Middle School Harchin in the Laspur valley near the ShandurPass did not perform duty on one pretext or the other. They said four out of the five teachers posted in the school including the head mistress had been on ‘leave’ for a long time while only one educator was running the institution.

The residents alleged that the teachers, who hailed from other villages of the valley, come to the school for a few days and disappeared for months. One of the teachers, they added, had hired an untrained lady as her substitute. They said the teachers got their attendance marked and received their salaries regularly while sitting in their homes.

They said frequent complaints to the officials concerned of the education department had failed to resolve the problem.

It may be noted that there have been frequent complaints in all parts of the valley about female teachers remaining absent from duties and some of them keeping proxies in their places in collusion with some officials of the education department.