Teachers in north-western Pakistan have strongly opposed the government's decision to allow them to carry weapons to defend schools from militant attacks.
Speakers who addressed a teachers' convention in Peshawar city said that their job was to provide education and not security, reported the Dawn.
The local government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province had announced last week that it would allow teachers to carry weapons inside school premises by issuing arms licences. He had explained that the decision was aimed at enabling teachers to "engage the attackers" until help arrived.
However, the government now insisted that no teacher would be forced to carry a weapon.
The decision followed a Taliban attack on Peshawar's Army Public School last month in which more than 150 people, mostly children, were killed.
