Laborers Desperate for Work
Daily wage laborers in Karachi are risking unsafe travel to other cities to seek out employment due to the prevailing lockdown in Sindh drying up their means of livelihood. Due to bus and taxi services being suspended under the travel ban, poor workers and their families are being forced to use rickshaws overloaded with people and luggage to travel for miles, making travel extremely dangerous for them.
Teachers without 18 Months’ Pay
Around 600 female teachers across 3,000 community schools for girls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have gone without salaries for 18 months.
Meant to tackle academic losses among girls, these 2-room community schools those female students who reside in areas without any nearby government school. Female teachers are employed at these facilities and are paid Rs. 15,000 per month. Teachers claim that while increasing enrolments indicate parents’ willingness to educate girls, having been deprived of their salaries for the past 18 months is destroying morale among teachers.
The Elementary and Secondary Education Foundation confirmed that teachers have not been paid due to a lack of funds from the finance department. The Foundation claims that salaries are expected to be released after the COVID-19 situation has normalized.
Derogatory Remarks on Women
Renowned cleric Tariq Jameel was the subject of criticism for sexist remarks made during a sermon in a video that has now gone viral. In the video, Tariq Jameel claims that Muslim men will be rewarded with hoor (fairies) in the afterlife and that men will be able to see the hoor’s body through a hundred layers of clothing. Critics pointed out that the sermon promotes the objectification of women, as well as sexist and predatory attitudes towards women by posing voyeurism as a reward for men.