Langlands School principal & teachers stick to their guns

CHITRAL: As the Langlands School and College remained closed on the fourth consecutive day on Saturday, both the embattled principal and the teaching and non-teaching staff stucked to their guns.

A meeting of parents and officials from the local administration held at a hotel with the protesting staff in attendance ended in a deadlock late on Saturday.

Principal Carey Schofield on Tuesday evening announced in a Facebook post that the school would remain closed “for a few days due to lack of discipline on the part of some elements.”

The announcement came in the wake of a deadline set by teachers and other staff that they would boycott classes if Ms Carey returned to the school.

The staff held a rally on Oct 2 in the absence of the principal and demanded her removal for alleged financial and administrative mismanagement.

ChitralToday has also learnt that the protesting teachers were ready to resume work on condition that the principal should not return to the school.

On the other hand, Ms Carey was of the view that the teachers should tender apology for levelling the allegations against her and creating the crisis in the school.

Parents at the meeting expressed their reservations over the closure of the school and criticized the district administration for remaining a silent spectator. They said the school should be opened without any delay and all issues between the administration of the institute and the staff should be resolved through talks.

They said the governing body seems non-existent, adding members of the body should be called to the next meeting and asked to resign.

They said if the issue lingers, parents would also take to the streets and would lock down the whole town. On the one hand the chief secretary and the commissioner Malakand division are openly backing the principal and on the other the local administration is  acting as a silent spectator to the issue, they added.

The parents also said the deputy commissioner at a meeting had earlier assured them that the school would reopen on Thursday but Ms Carey refused to do so.

On the reservations of the parents, assistant commissioner Abdul Wali Khan assured them that the school would be reopened on Monday. He said the issues of the teachers would be resolved in phases, he said. But the teachers said they would not take classes if the principal returns.

As the issue could not be resolved, it was decided that another meeting would be held at PTDC motel at 10am on Sunday. The principal and the governing body members should also be be asked to attend the meeting to find a solution to the issue.

 

Repirting: Bashir Hussain Azad