Daily Times

LARKANA/SHAHEED BENAZAIRABAD: As many as 11,466 teachers both primary and secondary have become absconders/absentees during the tenure of the most-powerful Secretary Schools Education Dr Fazalullah Pechuho, brother-in-law of former President Asif Ali Zardari, it is reliably learnt.

The Sindh government had posted the most powerful bureaucrat Dr Fazalullah Pechuho and his blue-eyed boy Rehan Iqbal Baloch as Secretary and Additional Secretary, Education and Literacy Department, respectively on December 12, 2012, insiders told Daily Times.

These officers are holding these posts since the last four consecutive years, which is against the Transfers and Posting Policy of the Sindh government which states that no officer shall hold the charge of important post more than three years.

According to sources, some 5,126 teachers have been declared absconders and 6304 are absentees however the reports from districts Ghotki, Sujawal and Thatta have not been included in the figures as hiring of monitoring assistants in these districts are in process.

Amongst the absconders, there are some 504 teachers absconding in district Mirpurkhas, 581 teachers in Larkana, 1 teacher in Kashmore-Kandhkot, 496 teachers in Shaheed Benazirabad, 459 teachers in Naushero Feroze, 423 teachers in Sanghar, 349 teachers in Umerkot, 7 teachers in Tharparkar, 309 teachers in Khairpur Mirs, 705 teachers in Dadu, 717 teachers in Hyderabad, 8 teachers in Shikarpur, 603 teachers in Jacobabad. These teachers remained absent from schools for long and they have not turned up for biometric verification.

While, among 6,304 absentee teachers, there are 640 teachers in district Mirpurkhas, 1122 teachers in Larkana, 24 teachers in Kashmore Kandkot, 680 teachers in Shaheed Benazirabad, 395 in Naushero Feroz, 580 in Sanghar, 283 in Umerkot, 5 teachers in Tharparkar, 377 teachers in Khairpur Mirs, 700 teachers in Dadu, 728 teachers in Hyderabad, 30 teachers in Shikarpur and 737 teachers in Jacobabad.

The sources said that the list of absconders and absent teachers have been forwarded to the DEO’s and the respective district officials have been directed to initiate disciplinary process against absconder and absent teachers and send prompt report to the department to decide their fate.

According to sources, the new chief minister, Murad Ali Shah, has imposed Education Emergency in the province, however, no one is asking for the overall performance of the powerful secretary and his entire team is enjoying all the perks and privileges despite negative indicators in the education system in the province.

Daily Times tried to contact Secretary Schools Education Department of the Sindh government however his cellular phone remained switched off till filing of the report.