Teachers’ regularisation: Judges, MPs irked by delays

Court seeks replies from CADD, FDE

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court on Wednesday directed the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) and its attached department to submit replies in a case pertaining to the regularisation of teachers.

Justice Noorul Haq Qureshi granted a stay to the petitioners who contended before the court that the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) was going to advertise jobs against which the teachers had been regularised but not given joining letters.

The court directed the two bodies to reply within a week.

The petitioners — 120 lecturers and teachers — through their counsel said that they had been serving under the FDE since 2007 on contractual and daily wage basis.

They added that they were regularised in February 2013 but had still not been given joining letters after three years.

He contended before the court that the petitioners have verbally been informed that the FDE is going to hire new staff against the posts on which they were regularised.

Meanwhile, the Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat also discussed the regularisation issue.

Rabia Waheed, a teacher, claimed before the committee that despite working for eight to 10 years, daily wage teachers have been ignored who gave 99 per cent results. She briefed the committee on the ordeal of teachers who have been working on meagre salaries for years but have not been regularised. She said the finance ministry got its own employees regularised on the recommendation of the regularisation committee of the cabinet, but refused to do the same for teachers.

The committee members got infuriated after hearing the teacher became teary-eyed over the non-implementation of its recommendations on the issue. Committee members walked out in protest, but later rejoined the proceedings.

PML-Q Senator Kamil Ali Agha said this government does not give any importance to parliament and that the policies of the finance minister and CADD have been exploiting and defrauding teachers.

ANP Senator Shahi Syed said the recommendations of the committee to regularise them are not being implemented, so the issue should be taken up with the Senate chairman.

The committee then decided to take up the issue on the floor of the house.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 1^st, 2016.