Sindh's unpaid teachers symbolise Pakistan's crumbling education system

Sindh [Pakistan], November 11 (ANI): For the 14th consecutive day, lower-grade employees of the Hyderabad Education Department continued their protest at the Hyderabad Press Club, demanding payment of their long-overdue salaries, which have been pending for nearly 28 months, as reported by The Express Tribune.
According to The Express Tribune, the demonstrators, frustrated and financially strained, staged a hunger strike while raising slogans for justice and the timely disbursement of wages.
The protesters stated that they were hired in 2023, following the Education Department's 2021 recruitment drive for lower-grade posts. Despite fulfilling all legal and procedural requirements, 669 employees across multiple schools have yet to receive their salaries, leaving them in a state of deep economic distress.
Protest organisers, including Gulab Rand, Asad Mall, and Syed Moazzam Ali Shah, stated that the government's silence has forced workers into desperation. Many have been unable to meet basic needs, pay rent, or provide for their families. The leaders warned that the protest would not end until the Sindh government releases all pending payments.
Meanwhile, in a separate demonstration, employees of the Sindh RO Plant Operators Association also gathered at the Hyderabad Press Club, led by Liaquat Chandio, Imdad Sand, and Yaqub Shoro.
The association's representatives stated that staff appointed in 2012 under the Public Health Engineering Department continue to serve in RO plants but earn just PKR 25,000 per month, a figure far below the provincial minimum wage of PKR 40,000 approved by the Sindh government, as highlighted by The Express Tribune.
The protesters demanded regularisation of their services and revision of their salaries in accordance with labour laws, calling the current situation "economic exploitation of the poor."
They also appealed to PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah to intervene immediately.
These dual protests underscore the chronic dysfunction and neglect within Sindh's public institutions, where administrative inertia and wage inequity persist, exacerbating social and economic grievances among government employees, as reported by The Express Tribune. (ANI)