Will children continue to suffer in 2017?

Weeks-long teachers’ strike, stalled development projects and FDE DG musical chairs

ISLAMABAD: The year 2016 was supposed to be a year for renovation and improvement at schools and colleges in the capital.

But flawed policies and half-measures meant that even well-meaning measures turned into issues with students suffering the most.

PM’s Education Reform Programme

In late December 2015, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had announced that the 22 government schools in the capital would be renovated and upgraded.



While the schools did get some touch-ups and teachers received additional training sessions, the process of adding some 70 rooms to these schools to accommodate the influx of students has proven to be arduous and time consuming with the project yet to be completed.

Some 2,152 schools received white-boards while water coolers and filtration plants were installed in 330 schools.

The government also plans to add some 70 new buses in the coming weeks to the existing fleet to help students who live in far-off areas in the capital, however, the project is partially stalled owing to a sluggish delivery schedule. Moreover, for the buses that have already arrived, authorities are waiting on a dignitary, preferably the premier, to inaugurate the buses even as students continue to have a hard time commuting to and from schools.



Approval for a PC-1 worth Rs3 billion to upgrade some 200 more schools is in final stage.

Despite these well-meaning endeavours, the government has been unable to address the biggest hurdle of them all – adding teachers to a schooling system which is grossly understaffed. The capital currently needs around 5,000 new teachers to add to the existing strength of 9,000 teachers. These instructors teach over 210,000 students.

The government did make an effort to add muscle to its lean teaching bench, advertising 1,500 vacant seats, but the daily wage staff challenged the move in courts.

Protests in schools

As if the shortage of staff was not enough, the annual ritual of the government delaying salaries of daily wage teachers reared its ugly head again.

Hundreds of teaching and non-teaching staff boycotted their duties on October 5 – World Teachers’ Day – demanding the release of their salaries held since June 2016 and regularisation of their services.

Months of protests finally saw the salaries released in November. However, the issue of their regularisation lingered with resolutions passed by the Senate, discussions in various parliamentary committees and directives from the Islamabad High Court failing to resolve the issue.

To make matters worse, regular staff at the 20 model colleges also boycotted duties for two weeks over delays in their promotion and up-gradation. While the regular staff finally resumed their duties after some of the protesting teachers were baton-charged and arrested, it was the students who mostly suffered from their absence.

FDE DG musical chairs continue

Long-standing Issues with administration of education in the capital spilled over into the new year with the Federal Directorate of Education unable to appoint a new director general. Complying with orders of the Supreme Court, the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) in April reappointed Dr Shehnaz Riaz as head of the FDE.



The apex court had been restoring her to the post since 2007. CADD, however, tried unsuccessfully to replace her, appointing 12 other DGs on the position. But most were removed by the SC.

However, after serving a seven month term this year, she finally retired. But the ministry was unable to appoint a new DG and has made stopgap arrangements to look after the directorate.

Nonconforming use

In compliance with SC orders, the Capital Development Authority started taking action against establishments violating building codes by operating in residential areas at the beginning of the year. On February 3, panic was caused when private schools got notices to leave residential buildings within 15 days.

The interior ministry had to intervene and courts were moved to stay the action. Negotiations between schools and CDA are still under way with no breakthrough in sight after the apex court refused to give two years time for schools to make the move.

New Rules for Private schools

On June 21 the Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (PEIRA) issued the Registration and Fee Determination Rules 2016 (RFDR), capping fees charged by private schools.

The rules set an upper limit for monthly fees of Rs8,350 for Metric, FA and FSc, and Rs12,525 for O’ and A’ levels.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 1^st, 2017.