DAWN.COM and Zahir Shah Sherazi
PESHAWAR: Over 9,000 teachers have refused to take part in a polio-vaccination campaign, which was scheduled to start tomorrow, citing low wages and security concerns as the reasons.
The teachers 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.
He said that all the Teachers’ Associations in KP had, in principle, decided not to participate in the drive as they were really worried about security and said it was not their job to do every kind of campaign, be it election duties, duties for internally displaced persons (IDPs), etc.
“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-Insaaf (PTI) leadership to at least spare women teachers as they are ready to quit their jobs than going out on the streets,” she said.
Answering a query about security threats surrounding polio workers, Kulsoom said threats were always present. “The female teachers are already under threat and performing their jobs with a lot of difficulty on the outskirts of Peshawar but putting additional burden on them would derail the education system,” she said.
According to President Malik Khalid Khan of the Primary Teachers' Association, teachers decided to boycott their duties in the campaign, following failure of talks with the district administration.
Khalid said it was a unanimous decision taken collectively by the Teachers' Associations in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Citing low wages and security concerns as the reasons, the teachers said they could not perform their duties.
The teachers said that the government should end administering polio drops to children by going door-to-door and instead set up a camp in a school.
They said police and other security personnel were not safe from attacks, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, then how was it possible to ensure the safety of teachers.
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 won’t 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.
It is pertinent to mention that Peshawar’s administration had deputed more than 9,000 teacher for the anti-polio drive starting tomorrow.
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 the 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.