Sindh education corruption

Letter January 10, 2017
All other senior functionaries are retired people who are working on contract with the blessings of higher ups

HYDERABAD: Recent reports published in your esteemed newspaper divulge information about inquiries initiated by the National Accountability Bureau regarding the alleged misuse of funds, tampered results, awarding of positions and scholarships based on ‘criteria’ other than merit, and exercising administrative authority beyond rules, regarding appointments, promotions, postings, purchases, and other acts of nepotism in most public sector universities and educational boards of Sindh. Inquiries are underway against higher education institutions in Karachi, Mehran, Tando Jam, Khairpur, Mirpur Khas and certain madrassas. This development depicts the vulnerable and fragile conditions of the administration of these prestigious institutions, which are supposed to produce qualified graduates of high character.

The main reason of mal-administration in public sector institutions is the flagrant violation of the service rules by the authorities concerned, who do not care to fulfill their responsibilities. Even, non-educationists, retired civil servants who do not pose any relevant academic background are heading leading educational institutions in the presence of PhD qualified academicians. This has caused resentment, disaffection and unrest among the deserving cadre.

In gross violation of the rules, teachers are given additional payouts for administrative posts despite the availability of cadre officers. An unbiased audit system should be applied to check for irregularities, illegalities and misappropriation of finances. Vice-chancellors, chairmen and directors of these leading institutions have been working for a long time in the same positions without recommendations by search committees and even after the expiry of their more than two terms. All other senior functionaries are retired people who are working on contract with the blessings of higher ups. The secretary of Universities and Education Board Sindh should take cognisance of this mess and ensure the appointments of vice-chancellors, registrars, directors, chairmen, secretaries and others as per rules on merit and proper external annual audits and administrative inspections be carried out to weed out all malpractices. Otherwise, we will be hearing news of similar corrupt practices that will continue to further deteriorate the standards of our educational institutions, which are run using taxpayers’ money.

Tariq Majeed

Published in The Express Tribune, January 11th, 2017.

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