Qalat teachers threaten to close schools

QALAT (PAN): A number of schoolteachers and students on Thursday warned of closing schools in Qalat, the capital of southern Zabul province, if the authorities did not provide teachers land plots.

Hundreds of students and their teachers gathered at a playground at the Sheikh Matti High School to protest the government’s failure to resolve the long-standing issue of land plots’  distribution to teachers. They accused some local officials of blocking the process.

Talking to Pajhwok Afghan News, a teacher, Hasibullah, said the land was allotted to teachers a year back and its distribution started 10 days ago with efforts by Dr Zalmay Zabuli, a Senator from the province.

Zabuli, calling the demand as genuine, has said no one would be allowed to violate teachers’ rights.

Governor Muhammad Ashraf Nasiri has said demarcation of the land had started and plots being distributed in line the rules.

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