Islamabad-Dozens of Basic Education Community Schools (BECS) teachers on Tuesday held a protest on D-Chowk and demanded regular service structure from the government.

The BECS teachers hailing from different parts of the country participated in the protest with their children and urged the government to address their demand of providing regular service structure.

The BECS department is working under ministry of federal education and professional training.

The community schools were established all across the country to provide informal education to students living in underprivileged communities.

In order to educapte out of school children the government had appointed educated youth from different communities to teach children in their communities.

The BECS teachers gathered on D-Chowk and protested against the government for not resolving their issues on priority bases. The protest led to the traffic jam at D-Chowk while police contingents were deployed to maintain law and order in the area. The teachers on protest said that the community teachers purchased books and copies for students from their own earnings.

 “It is saddening that new Pakistan has not given us hope,” said Muhammad Ismail a teacher.

He said that one teacher in the community is teaching five children without release of salaries or any other benefit.

He said that BECS teachers are providing education to the students for last twenty years but federal government has not uplifted and strengthened this education model.

A female teacher, Misbah said that BECS teachers are facing discriminatory behavior by the government regardless of hiring their services.

“Our performance is monitored but our services are not valued,” she said.

She also said that earlier the BECS teachers held a long protest for their unpaid salaries and now have gathered to demand a regular service structure.