MUZAFFARABAD: Ad hoc teachers from across Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) have once again asked the government to make their services permanent and to be exempted from going through the upcoming recruitment process through the National Testing Service (NTS).

Talking to journalists on Monday, representatives of teachers from various state-run schools across AJK said most of the 750 ad hoc teachers, some of whom have served for a decade, are older than the upper age limit for government jobs and asking them to appear in NTS exams when they have served for so long is not f air.

L ast week, more than 300 ad hoc teachers visited Muzaffarabad from different parts of AJK to convey their demands and concerns.

They held a brief demonstration outside the press club and a sit-in in f ront of the education department building in the district headquarters complex.

They were, however, persuaded by the local administration to avoid any `confrontational activity` before meeting with concerned authorities.

`We spent a few days in the capital in hopes of getting an appointment from Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider, which did not happen,` said Awaisul Aziz, head of the adrun schools across AJK said most of the 750 ad hoc teachers, some of whom have served for a decade, are older than the upper age limit for government jobs and asking them to appear in NTS exams when they have served for so long is not f air.

L ast week, more than 300 ad hoc teachers visited Muzaffarabad from different parts of AJK to convey their demands and concerns.

They held a brief demonstration outside the press club and a sit-in in f ront of the education department building in the district headquarters complex.

They were, however, persuaded by the local administration to avoid any `confrontational activity` before meeting with concerned authorities.

`We spent a few days in the capital in hopes of getting an appointment from Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider, which did not happen,` said Awaisul Aziz, head of the adrun schools across AJK said most of the 750 ad hoc teachers, some of whom have served for a decade, are older than the upper age limit for government jobs and asking them to appear in NTS exams when they have served for so long is not f air.

L ast week, more than 300 ad hoc teachers visited Muzaffarabad from different parts of AJK to convey their demands and concerns.

They held a brief demonstration outside the press club and a sit-in in f ront of the education department building in the district headquarters complex.

They were, however, persuaded by the local administration to avoid any `confrontational activity` before meeting with concerned authorities.

`We spent a few days in the capital in hopes of getting an appointment from Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider, which did not happen,` said Awaisul Aziz, head of the adhoc teachers` action committee.

Mr Aziz was also given the best teacher award in 2013 by the federal education minister.

`We later met with minister Chaudhry Tariq Farooq and gave him our charter of demands but we are yet to receive a favourable answer from the government, he added.

Mr Aziz said ad hoc teachers had applied for permanent jobs many times since 2007 and that each time, tests or interviews were cancelled at the last minute for a variety of reasons.

It is unjust to ask teachers to go through NTS tests because most of them were employed under the 1994 rules, he said.

`When we were students, we had appeared in annual exams when students today study under the semester system, which secures more marks compared to the annual system. That is why we ask that thegovernment devise a recruitment procedure for us under the 1994 rules,` he explained.

He maintained that almost all the ad hoc teachers had given hundred percent results in their relevant subjects.

`If our performance was not up to the mark over these years, why did the education department continue using our services for a decade,` he asked.

Another teacher, Raja Nauman Siddiqui said the government should look at their record and decide if they had delivered.

`We are ready for going through any evaluation process,` he said, `and if the government has to put us through the NTS, we should be given 10 marks for experience`.

The teachers` representatives warned that if the government did not do justice by them, all 750 teachers will be staging a sit-in in Muzaffarabad till their demands are met.