People in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir are facing the brunt of a serious crisis in the education system in the region, forcing them to protest over multiple issues.

Despite the pressing need for better facilities, students and employees in the education sector are being kept away from their basic rights. Amid rising inflation, teaching and administrative staff in PoK are demanding their long-overdue salary increases, reported ANI.

“People’s lives have become miserable. The biggest department in the region is the education department, whose employees are compelled to organise the majority of protests here. A strong mafia is doing business in the name of education, which is taking advantage of workers. The owners of private schools are retired bureaucrats who have considerable influence within the government,” Ishtiaq Mir, a journalist in PoK, told the news agency.

The academic staff have been requesting federal and regional governments for a long time but it did not fetch results.

Students in PoK are also demonstrating over recent fee hikes.