Midterm exams in all Islamabad public schools and colleges have been postponed following a week of strike action by FGEJAC, the Federal Government Education Joint Action Committee.
They decided to postpone their upcoming midterm exams until their demands were met during a committee meeting on Sunday. The boycott of academic activities in public schools will continue during that meeting.
Midterm exams will be rescheduled if the government agrees to the FDE’s request for the removal of Clause 166 of ICT Local Government Ordinance, a spokesman for the teachers’ organisation said.
Social media will be a key tool for the FGEJAC in spreading the message of the strike and the demands of the protestors.
The appointment of the FDE Director-General will also be made after consulting with the Mayor of Islamabad under an ordinance passed by the federal government earlier this month, which placed 424 FDE institutions under the jurisdiction of the Municipal Corporation Islamabad (MCI).
Last week, the FDE employees who had announced a protest against the ordinance at their institutions expressed their displeasure with the decision to move forward with the protest.
Committee Chairman Fazal Maula said that “no academic activity will take place in any government educational institution from today, and a complete boycott of classes will be observed”.
Teachers, on the other hand, fear that the new ordinance will change the status of employees and pave the way for the privatisation of the institutions.