Local governance: Education EDOs turn CEOs of district authorities

Notification of appointment issued under Punjab Local Government Act, 2013

LAHORE: With the initiation of local governments system, the Punjab government has appointed acting chief executive officers and secondary education directors for the newly established district education authorities and the nine divisions of the province, respectively.

The government issued the notification for the appointments on Monday under the Punjab Local Government Act 2013.

The provincial government has abolished the posts of the executive district officers (EDOs) for education and established a district education authority in each district while appointing the respective deputy commissioner as its administrator.

All the former EDOs have now been appointed as the acting chief executive officers of the district education authorities.

Through a notification issued by the School Education Department (SED), the newly appointed CEOs were informed about the decision. The acting CEOs would look after the functions until the appointment of regular CEOs or any other arrangement.

The SED also notified nine divisional directors for looking after the affairs of secondary education on additional charge under the new setup.

According to the notification, Lahore District Education Authority acting CEO Tariq Rafiq has been assigned the additional charge of the secondary education director of Lahore Division. Gujranwala District Education Authority CEO Khalid Hussain Goraya will serve as the director of Gujranwala Division.

Faisalabad District Education Authority CEO Muhammad Javed Iqbal Chisti has been assigned the additional charge of secondary education director for Faisalabad Division while Bahawalpur’s acting CEO Bashir Ahmed Chaudhry will also serve as the secondary education director for Bahawalpur Division.

Similarly, the acting CEO of Multan District Education Authority, Muhammad Ashfaq, has been additionally assigned the charge of secondary education director in Multan Division and Sohaib Imran from Sahiwal will serve as the secondary education director for the Sahiwal Division as well.

Rana Azhar Khan, the acting chief of Sargodha District Education Authority, has been assigned the additional charge of Sargodha Division’s secondary education director and Qazi Zahoorul Haq from Rawalpindi has been given the charge of secondary education director for Rawalpindi Division.

Abdul Ghaffar Khan, acting CEO of the Dera Ghazi Khan District Education Authority, has been assigned the additional charge of secondary education director for DG Khan Division.

Elected local government representatives from the district would also serve as members of the district education authorities.

The provincial government can appoint technocrats as other members and chairman and vice-chairman will also serve in the body.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 3^rd, 2017.