Daily Times

KARACHI: Tug of war has started between senior faculty members of the College Education Department to acquire the post of the Director General colleges, Sindh, as the present DG Colleges Dr Nasir Ansar will get his retirement on 4th July 2017, Daily Times has learnt.

There are five regional directorates of colleges including Karachi,Hyderabad, Mirpur Khas, Sukkar and Larkana, inclusive 272 intermediate and degree colleges of public. Those state-run colleges and regional directorates of colleges are being run under the supervision of DG colleges.

Provincial Education Manager (PEM), a post for the head of colleges and schools, was created in 2002 during Musharraf regime but afterwards the post of PEM renamed as Director General Colleges in 2006. It was amid to devaluate powers among high ranked officers and control posting of faculty members from rural areas into urban area of Sindh.

In 2006, Dr Muhammad Ali Shiekh, present Vice Chancellor of the Sindh Madresatul Islam University, was appointed the first DG colleges for few months while Dr Rafique Siddique (late) served the directorate from 2007 to 2010 and since then Dr Nasir Ansar is serving on the post, who will be retiring in the next two days.

In the context of DG’s retirement, some of the senior faculty members including Regional Director Colleges Abdul Bari Indhar from Sukkar, Regional Director Colleges Shafique Ahmed Rind from Larkana, Principal of Government Degree College Akbar Sarki from Jacobabad and Principal of Government Degree College for Women Razia Khokhar from Karachi are busy in lobbying to be catered for the post.

However, Professor Rubina Hakim, Principal of Government Home Economics College Karachi, is the senior most among faculty members of colleges across Sindh but she has no influence in the Sindh provincial government to be appointed as DG for colleges. It pertinent to mention here that post of DG is designated in grade 20 by Sindh government and a number of senior teachers have been promoted to grade 20 last month.

On the other hand, some of the Karachi based faculty members including Principal of the Government College Nazimabad Professor Navid Hashmi, Principal of the Government Islamia College Arts and Commerce Professor Zia uddin Shiekh and Principal of the Government Degree College New Karachi Professor Salim Ghori, are also among those candidates who are expectedly to be appointed as DG college.

“There is no clear policy of Sindh government, who should to be appointed on the post of DG colleges”, Dr Ansar told Daily Times, added it’s not about seniority and merit but depends on government intention to appoint or reject someone on potential basis. He further said that he has done enough work for the betterment of government colleges and he wishes to see the colleges functional, full of enrollment and the colleges to be spreading knowledge.

Contrary to that, Sindh Professor and Lecturer Association (SPLA), the organizational body of colleges’ teachers, opposes the provincial government to make appointment on the post of DG colleges. “Earlier, we were able to approach secretary education directly to resolve our matters but now there are many stages and steps to reach to the secretary education because teachers of the colleges are forward their concerned applications via Principal to the Regional Directors and then to the Director General and after that to the secretary education”, said Professor Aslam Parveez, former secretary general of SPLA.

He suggested that if government wants to resolve the problems of faculty members on priority basis, post of the DG colleges must be abolished.

Published in Daily Times, July 3^rd, 2017.