PESHAWAR: Over 9,000 teachers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, who had refused to take part in a polio-vaccination campaign citing low wages and security concerns as the reasons earlier, agreed to kick start the campaign scheduled for Sunday following successful negotiations with the government.
The All Pakistan Primary Teachers Association president, Khalid Malik told Dawn.com that their talks with the district administration on Saturday had been successful.
He said the government had accepted their demands of granting Shuhda (martyred) Package for the teachers who died during polio vaccination campaign.
Under the compensation package, children of the deceased employees will be provided with jobs and women teachers would not be sent to sensitive areas.
Malik said the teachers have agreed to call off the boycott and would participate in the polio drive starting from January 26.
Earlier today, announcing a boycott of the campaign, the teachers had said the government was forcing them to go on “suicide missions” which would prove disastrous for education as well.
Following attacks on polio workers and killing of security personnel, the KP health authorities had requested the education department to help carry out the campaign through teachers, but they refused to get training for the vaccination and participate in the drive.
President of the All Teachers’ Association KP Muzammil Tarnabi told Dawn.com that it was not the job of the teachers to carry out the vaccination drive. He said the health department had a substantial staff which should be deployed for the purpose and said if need be, then teachers would help for the national cause.
“They informed us two days back to send teachers for polio training but the teachers refused. Today, we had a meeting with the administration but it’s not feasible to involve educationists in the polio drive,” he said, adding that “we are in the last two months of the academic year and forcing them to go for such a task would adversely affect students.”
“Adezai, Mattani and Badbher are the most volatile areas in KP and teachers, especially women, are ready to quit their jobs if compelled to perform polio duties there,” he said.
Primary Teachers’ Association Women Wing's President Kulsoom Begum lamented that female teachers were harassed by their bosses to partake in the polio campaign.
“I would request the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) leadership to at least spare female teachers as they are ready to quit their jobs rather than goinging out on the streets,” she said.
The Teachers' Association District Coordination President Ashfaq Khan said the community had serious security reservations. “Nobody can risk their lives for others’ job,” he said, adding that “all the teachers are terrified and it’s unjust to force the teaching community to do a job which they are not entitled to perform.”
Samina, a school teacher, who belongs to a religious family, said her parents would not allow her to roam on the streets as she wasn't even allowed to step outside her house on her own.
“They tricked us by filling a proforma and even the teachers’ personal numbers were collected but we didn’t know what they were after. We are now receiving text messages on our cell-phones to perform polio duty from tomorrow,” she said.
“I cannot go out at any cost so it’s better to quit teaching as well,” she replied when asked what she would do if authorities did not relent.
Meanwhile, the PTI-led government in KP has said that it would carry out the polio-vaccination drive through PTI volunteers and an official announcement in this regard is expected to be made by party chief Imran Khan later today.
The teachers’ refusal comes days after immunisation teams were attacked in Karachi and Punjab’s Bhakkar region and a police team delegated to provide security to immunisation workers was attacked in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Charsadda district.
Pakistan is one of only three countries in the world where polio remains endemic, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria. Efforts to eradicate it have been seriously hampered by the deadly targeting of vaccination teams in recent years.
Militant groups see vaccination campaigns as a cover for espionage, and there are also long running rumours about polio drops causing infertility.
According to World Health Organisation (WHO), Pakistan recorded 91 cases of polio last year compared with 58 in 2012. So far, four new polio cases have been recorded in 2014.