Daily Times

The teaching staff serving under the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) have expressed annoyance over delay in their promotions till the completion of directory retirement cases.

According to an official source, the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training has tightened its belt and asked the directorate to finalize the lists of teachers for forced retirement, putting the career of teachers on hold.

The government promulgated a law of ‘directory retirement’ in 2020 which entails an inquiry into each case of government officers if three of their annual performance evaluation reports (PERs) are average.

With three average PERs in the past 20 years or more, the government servant is subject to inquiry and if the case is justified at the discretion of the Directory Retirement Committee after scrutiny, the officer is supposed to be retired on the basis of unsatisfactory performance.

Following these directions of the establishment division, the concerned ministry has started the process of of directory retirement in its attached department i.e. Federal Directorate of Education.

Anum Kaleem, joint secretary of the Federal Government College Teachers Association (FGCTA) said, “Many of the lecturers have got promotions as Assistant Professor and Associate Professor on the basis of their PERs which they earned during the 1990s. Surprisingly, they are unaware of their average PERs because according to rules average PERs are not communicated to the officers concerned, considering the satisfactory performance.

It seems ridiculous and illogical that after twenty years of their service their names are being sent for forced retirement on the basis that their performance was not up to the mark during the 1990s in the initial stage of their career.

A pungent and distasteful question arises if any officer had underperformed 15 or 20 years ago but later, improved his/her performance, why he/she should be penalized for something that is a history.

So there seem some shortcomings in the directory retirement rules which may open the Pandora box of litigation.

Farhan Azam, Senior Vice President of FGCTA said, “Average PER means ‘satisfactory’ that is why the teachers were promoted to the next grade. All of sudden average PERs are being eyed suspiciously and distrustfully rather they are becoming cause of an extreme penalty of being ousted from service summarily.

He raised the question that every teacher should be communicated if his/her PERs are not up to the mark; how come a teacher comes to know one morning that his/her performance was not fine one or two decades ago and now he/she would be shown the exit door as poor-performer.

A double edged sword has marred the leftover charm in the teaching profession due to a most directory retirement rules which have blocked the entire promotion process which was already slower.

President of FGCTA Dr Rahima Rahman said, “Teachers of Federal Government Colleges are anguished over willful delay of their promotions. The directory retirement rules not only did halt the ongoing and long-awaited promotions but also superseded the entire promotion procedures. It is unfair that the teachers are pushed into early retirement due to poor performance two decades ago even they have been performing excellently for the last 15 years or more.

It has sounded so abrupt as if directory retirement is considered the panacea of all the ills in the administration. The question of good or bad, and average or adverse, is not justified by any means. It has messed up the entire evaluation system and the end result is an unimaginable delay in dispensation of just promotions. She has demanded the authorities that the directory retirement rules should be amended and it should be implemented when the rules were promulgated and not from the past.

She further demanded an early convening of a meeting of the Departmental Selection Board to consider the delayed promotion cases of teachers.