Teachers decry delayed release of sum, meagre quantity of allowance. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD: Slashing house rental allowance by the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) for staff at government-run colleges in the capital has caused unrest among teachers of the affected institutes.
The Finance Division had allocated Rs16.6 million as “rent of the residential buildings” for the Islamabad Model Postgraduate College (IMPC) in Sector H-8 during 2016-17.
However, according to documents available with The Express Tribune, the FDE deducted a quarter of the funds, or around Rs4.48 million. The deduction came without informing the principal of colleges – a grade-20 officer.
Moreover, the FDE has also reportedly cut the hiring budget for several colleges in the capital including Model Postgraduate College for girls Sector F-7/2, Model Postgraduate College for girls Sector F-7/4(Margalla), Model Postgraduate College of Commerce Sector H-8/4 and a few others.
Teachers at the postgraduate college in Sector H-8 claim that they are among the worst affected by the massive cuts. Moreover, they term the cuts as incompetency by the budget and finance section of FDE which is already struggling to pay salaries to some of the teachers.
“The owner of my house has not got a single penny in rent from the department for the last four months,” claimed Imran Khan, a teacher from the H-8 college.
“He has asked me for the rent many times and now it is difficult for me to face him.”
Renting houses in the capital, the teachers say, is a constant source struggle. They point to the gulf between demands and expectations of the landlords, differences in the government allocations and market rates, and excessive delays in payments as some of their main issues.
“I am paying a handsome amount of money to make up the difference [between the government allocation and actual rent] from my own pocket,” remarked another teacher.
“If the allowance is not released in time, I have to manage it from my own pocket, which is a herculean task”.
However, FDE Budget and Finance Director Tahir Mustafa Khosa maintains that there have been no substantial deductions in the rental budget and that colleges were allocated the pledged amount till June 30.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 11th, 2017.
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