Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Soon after the formulation of a new cabinet, the incumbent government merged the Ministry of Capital Administration & Development Division (CADD) into the Ministry of Federal Education on Thursday.

However, it did not make any arrangements to appoint permanent heads of allied departments of the ministry.

The federal cabinet with the consent of Prime Minister Imran Khan in September, 2018 abolished the Ministry of CADD, which was established in 2011. The attached education departments with the ministry had been placed under Ministry of Federal Education & Professional Training Control which is being headed by ruling party senior leader Shafqat Mehmood.

However, after the decision, most of the education departments are either left at the mercy of ad-hocism or entirely running headless.

Currently, the Education Ministry has 17 attached departments apart from three colleges that fall directly under the control of the ministry that are Federal Government College of Home Economics & Management Sciences, Sir Syed School & College of Special Education and Federal College of Education.

Almost all major departments aforementioned are running without permanent heads. The Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) is at the top of the list among such institutions.

The FDE has mandate to oversee 423 public sector schools and colleges in the capital. The post of director general has always been viewed as significant for running administrative and academic affairs of these educational institutions. However, as per information, the directorate has no permanent DG since December 10, 2016 when permanent DG Shahnaz A Riaz at that time took retirement over age superannuation. After Shahnaz A Riaz, over seven DGs have been replaced since. They included Amir Ashraf Khawaja, Ali Ahmed Kharal, Moinuddin Wani, Ayesha Farooq and Hasnat Qureshi.

On November 20, the Education Ministry appointed Dr Ahmed Kharral as DG with an additional charge for a period of three months until a full-time DG is chosen for the position.

Originally, Dr Kharral was the principal of Islamabad Model College for Boys G-6/3.

Similarly, National Vocational & Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) is also being run by NAVTTC Executive Director Dr Nasir Khan on temporary charge. NAVTTC holds the responsibility to regulate, facilitate and provide policy direction in vocational and technical training to produce skilled lot in the country. The department remained headless for over three months. Interestingly, the incumbent government has made claims for creation of 1 million new jobs and it said that the youth will be provided technical education at par with other Middle Eastern countries.

The educationists suggested the government should appoint a permanent head of NAVTTC so that some comprehensive policy could be formulated to make its claims true in real means.

The Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (PEIRA) is another entity in waiting for a permanent chairperson. Currently, a member of the authority Imtiaz Qureshi has been assigned temporary chairpersonship by the Education Ministry’s management. The function of PEIRA is to regularise all private educational institutions in Islamabad Capital Territory.

The post of National Education Foundation (NEF) managing director was also running on additional charge given to Ministry of Joint Education Adviser Rafique Tahir. An official in the NEF wishing anonymity said that Rafique Tahir rarely sits in the foundation as he mostly remained in to deal with his ministry duty affairs.

The slots of DGs in two other education ministry allied departments of National Commission for Human Development and Basic Education Community School are vacant for around two months.

Besides, there was also no regular heads of the National Talent Pool and Federal Government Polytechnic Institute of Women.

The post of secretary general at the Pakistan National Commission for United Nations Educational Scientific Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) – an education ministry liaison office with UNESCO, has also been vacant for a long time.

Since he assumed office, Shafqat Mahmood has repeatedly said that he is committed to idealise and streamline the education system. A uniform educational policy and bringing all 25 million out-of-school children into schools has remained a special focus for him.

Besides this, sources in the ministry confided that some other small departments that fall under the jurisdiction of the ministry are yet to be appointed permanent custodians as well.

The educationists opined that the ministry should first appoint regular heads of respective institutions then real educational reforms could be made possible in practical manner.

Despite repeated calls and messages, Shafqat Mehmood could not be approached for comment.

Published in Daily Times, December 21^st2018.