Not on merit: Teachers forced to stay in a lower grade

Promotions approved in October last year, but they are still waiting for notifications and posting orders.

ISLAMABAD: Federal government schools’ officials, approved for promotion by Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) back in October, are yet to move to grade-19.

DPC, headed by secretary education and comprising secretary establishment, secretary finance and director general education department, in its meeting on October 28, 2010 approved the promotions of five senior teachers to grade-19.

However, the education ministry has still not notified the decision due to which the teachers are still waiting to be assigned to their new posts. One of the teachers, Aftab Ahmad, retired on February 4, while another senior teacher, Muhammad Ghias Satti, will reach the retirement age on June 5.

Sakhi Muhammad, Kherullah and Wahabuddin Shaiq are the remaining teachers still waiting for the notification.

In a previous DPC meeting on July 21 last year, promotion notifications of 13 senior teachers were issued. Six of them were subsequently promoted to the next grade (grade-19).

The remaining seven are still waiting for their posting as principals/headmasters to any federal government school.

These seven teachers are Ghulam Rasul, Masood Ahmad, Fazal Hussain, Ghulam Mustafa, Allah Ditta, Muhammad Farid Satti and Hafiz Fazl-e-Ghani.

Currently 12 federal government schools are being run without principals in the capital, according to official sources.

The teachers were told that their promotion notifications will be issued after the academic term.

“So far it has not happened,” a senior official in the education ministry told The Express Tribune.

He said that no official of the Ministry of Education was taking interest in the matter after the passage of the 18th Amendment, which devolves the ministry to the provinces.

“After the 18th Amendment, Secretary Education and other senior officials of the ministry are not taking interest in their official tasks,” he said.

Secretary Education, Muhammad Athar Tahir, told The Express Tribune that “efforts are underway to fill the vacant seats.”

To a query regarding promotion and posting notification of the senior teachers, he replied that he was aware of the shortage of teachers and vacant posts in the schools but “a process is required to achieve the task.”

One of the teachers told The Express Tribune that the delay in the issuance of notification would create a “difficult a situation for them.”

“We will not be eligible to get pension nor can we avail the benefits of grade-19, which has been approved,” he added.

“I don’t understand why the notifications are not being issued while posts of principals and headmasters are vacant in many government schools of the capital,” another senior teacher said. “Is our demand not valid?”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 26^th, 2011.