ISLAMABAD: A sit-in staged by teachers from Fata, that lasted several days, finally caught the Senate`s attention on Monday.

Many teachers from Fata have been protesting outside the National Press Club for many days to pressure the government to accept their longstanding demands of upgrading theirposts andchangesin the service structure.

Speaking on issues of public importance, Fata`s Senator Aurangzeb Khan drew the attention of the house towards the protestingteachers.

When Senator Aurangzeb Khan mentioned the teachers, Senator Atta ur Rehman pointed out that the matter fell in the purview of the Khyber Pakhtonkhwa (KP) government.

To this, Senator Raza Rabbani directed Senator Aurangzeb Khan to get the demands of the teachers in writing so the matter may be taken up with the concernedauthorities.

Senator Aurangzeb told Dawn he will play his role in resolving the issue.

`The teachers from Fata are being denied their promotions for three years. They should be given the same benefits as teachers in other parts of the country`, he added.

The protesting teachers said their counterparts in KP were granted scale promotion by the KP government while the teachers in Fata were being denied the same.

A protesting teacher, Adnan Malik Khan said: `We are under the jurisdiction of the KP government and while the provincial government approved a new service structure for the teachers of other areas and granted them promotions in 2012, we are being refused`.

The teachers are also demanding the restoration of a teaching allowance which was announced by the then president of Pakistan in 2006 for Fata teachers.