700 Laghman teachers go on strike over land plots

MEHTARLAM (Pajhwok): Hundreds of schoolteachers on Sunday went on strike in the Qarghai district of eastern Laghman province, allowing thousands of students to return homes, officials said on Sunday.

Nearly 700 teachers from district schools, the sciences centre, the teacher training institute and the agriculture institute held a protest gathering.

Kakas High School teacher, Abdul Waris Jabarkhel, told Pajhwok Afghan News that the government last year provided land plots’ documents to them, but they hadn’t yet received the land.

He said the government should release plots usurped by other people. He warned their protest would continue and the schools closed until their issue was addressed.

A teacher at Shabaz High School, Rohullah, said the government had promised them reclaiming of the occupied land from usurpers; however, the promise could not be honoured.

“Now the government has told us to get themselves the lands from grabbers, but we don’t have such authority.”

A civil society activist in Qarghai district, Zahidullah Musazai, said the land plots were right of all teachers and the government had given them official documents.

He asked the government to resolve the issue because continuation of the strike would affect students.

Laghman education director, Mohmmad Hazrat Mujadidi, confirmed the strike by teachers, saying he visited the district to oversee the situation. He also sought government’s help in this regard.

Laghman governor’s spokesman, Sarhadi Zwak, said Governor Abdul Jabbar Naimi had tasked the security organs and the anti-usurpation commission to resolve the issue forthwith.

Earlier teachers in Kama district had been on strike for three weeks over a similar issue.

sns/ma

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