Daily Times

Despite severe shortage of teachers in educational institutions of Federal Directorate of Education (FDE), the authorities failed to repatriate many blue-eyed faculty members working against administrative position within directorate, not only violating of fundamental service rules but also against core purpose of teachers’ hiring at any educational institution.

As per documents available with Daily Times, around two dozen teaching staffers are performing their duties at FDE against various senior slots and most of them are there for a long time. Ironically, many among them are principals who have had a pivotal role as head of any educational institution.

Abdul Waheed Araian, Sadia Adnan, Azam Ghakhar and Riffat Jabeen have been serving as director schools, director academics, director legal and director quality assurance respectively. While originally they were principals at IMCB G-6/4, IMSG F-6/1, IMCB G-7/2 and IMCG G-8 respectively. Under the recruitment rules, those who are appointed as faculty members should serve only as teachers. A senior official at FDE said while requesting anonymity said that the posting or transfers against the administrative posts was a violation of the terms of conditions of their appointments.

Furthermore, according to section 2 of the Civil Service Act 1973, the faculty of the special service cadre, cannot be transferred to any other field job. The available information suggests that beside the said rules, the posting/or transfers have been discouraged and declared void on the various forums including the Cabinet Standing Committee meetings, in Islamabad High courts and apex court verdicts.

The Area Education Officer (AEO) is purely an administrative cadre post. Currently, the post of three AEOs is filled by teaching staff in contradiction of aforementioned rules. Ehsan Mehmood, Shafqat Janjua and Riaz Opal are Principal by cadre while they are performing their duties as AEO of different areas of FDE’s institutions.

Likewise, five Deputy Directors serving at the Directorate also have teaching cadres. They included as Samina Zia (Vice Principal IMCG, G-9), Dr Tabbasum (Vice Principal, IMS, G-7-2), Tariq Bashir (IMSB, I-10/2), Inam Jahangir (IMSB, F-6/2) and Muhammad Nadeem (SST, IMCB G-7/4).

Besides this, Mohsin Gulzar, Ishaq Khan, Said Akbar and some others are working against non-teaching cadres in the FDE. Some of the above-mentioned employees have been in the directorate for many years. For instance, Abdul Waheed Araian, Sadia Adnan and few others are the employees who have been ‘ever green’ in the books of the higher authorities. When contacted, Sadia Adnan claimed “I have left the charge of Director Academics FDE with effect from June 1 and got study leave.” When asked about sharing a relinquishment letter or any office orders, she refused while saying that “it’s not worth mentioning.”

An official in the FDE says to relinquish the charge of any position and availing long leave or studies leave are two different things.

Director General FDE Dr Ikram Malik, however, defended the posting of teachers in the Directorate, saying that it was not based on any favoritism but due to shortage of senior administrative staffers. “It never been done willingly but willy-nilly in order to run the system as there is acute shortage of administrative staff,” he explained, adding that apart from shortage of such staff due to being vacant of respective posts, some permanent directors got long leave and deputation requisition at some other departments which also resulted deficiency.

Dr Malik further added when he resumed charge of this office there were some court stay orders which hampered the advertising of new hiring of teaching and non-teaching staffers. “As soon as said stay vacated, we hired around 300 teachers of different cadres and case of hiring of 265 more such teachers is under process currently,” he informed this scribe, adding that the directorate also approved and forwarded the appointment of around 500 gazetted teachers to Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC). “The commission also started hiring as per our request,” he explained and hoped that staffers’ deficiency would be overcome completely by the end of this year.

Appointed in 2020 for three years tenure, Dr Malik was the first permanent DG of FDE as the institute would have been headless since December 2016. Despite having substantial administrative experience, Dr Malik would have faced several challenges after he took the office. Restoration of FDE’s reputation, which has been facing criticism from lawmakers and other sections concerned because of its poor performance, was one of the biggest issues that he somehow coped with till now.

Not finding it a “bed of roses”, Dr Malik claimed, he is vigorously working for the betterment of the institution, regardless of any personal benefit. “I put it in my best priority to mend all issues including delay in salaries and regularization of services of daily-wage teachers, prevailing culture of irrational transfers and others,” he recalled.