DLP Report
PESHAWAR
Employees of the Education Monitoring Authority (EMA) have expressed concern over the issuance of show-cause notices to staff, alleging that their legitimate demands were ignored, and warned of protest if the decision was not withdrawn.
Addressing a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club (PPC) on Monday, provincial representatives of EMA, including Israr Ahmed, Ishtiaq Ali, Farhan Alam, Zubair Ahmed and Wajid Ahmed, said that hundreds of employees working across KP, including merged districts, were facing serious issues related to service structure and benefits.
They said that EMA employees, who have been serving for over 13 years, were still deprived of basic facilities available to government employees, including time-scale promotions, pension, contributory provident (CP) fund and post-retirement benefits. They added that employees were even using their own resources, including fuel, during field duties and were still lacking essential IT equipment.
Israr Ahmed said that several employees, both male and female, had lost their lives in incidents of terrorism and accidents during duty, but their families had not received financial assistance, death compensation or pension due to the absence of a proper service structure.
He alleged that instead of addressing these concerns, the authorities had issued show-cause notices to employees who had contributed significantly to monitoring and improving education standards across the province, including tribal districts.
The representatives further claimed that some elements were attempting to remove existing employees and replace them with preferred persons, thereby undermining the role of EMA staff.
They demanded that the provincial government immediately withdraw the show-cause notices and approve a comprehensive service structure for EMA employees, including time-scale promotions, pension, CP fund and other financial benefits in line with government employees.
They warned that if their demands were not accepted, they would approach the courts and, if necessary, stage a province-wide hunger strike and sit-in outside the KP Assembly.
The employees also demanded an increase in mobility allowance, stating that the current amount was insufficient to even cover visits to 20 percent of assigned schools. They further called for financial assistance to be provided to the families of all employees who had died during service, stressing that no compromise would be made on this demand.
