Secondary schools dept functioning without permanent director

Many acting directors have come and gone after Abdul Wahab Abbasi was removed from post in 2015

KARACHI: Despite the lapse of more than two years and after several reshuffles, the schools secondary education department still does not have a permanent director.

The seat is vacant since 25 February, 2015 when the then director, Abdul Wahab Abbasi, was arrested on corruption charges. Ever since then, the department never got a new permanent director, while majority of the acting directors who took charge were not from the education department.

The current acting secondary schools director Dr Riaz Ahmed Siddiqui went on leave on June 9 and the work in the department has come to a halt as he did not hand over the charge to anyone else. Before joining the secondary schools, Dr Riaz worked with Sui Southern Gas Company and also served as the youth affairs secretary.



After Abdul Wahab's arrest, Mansoob Hussain Siddiqui, who is currently the director-general of private institutions, took charge as the acting director, but he was replaced by Mushtaq Sheikh in 2016. Soon after this, Sheikh was once again replaced by Mansoob. After a while, Mansoor Abbas Rizvi, who is currently the secretary of Katchi Abadis, was given the charge of the acting director for secondary schools. After serving for a short period, Rizvi was also asked to leave and the current acting director, Dr Riaz, took the over charge in 2016.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, on condition of anonymity one of the employees at the department said, "We do not understand why government is not taking any interest in appointing a permanent director." Not having a permanent director for such a long time is affecting the internal matters of the department, he added.



According to him, the main problem that the department is facing due to the frequent reshuffle is that when any of the officials start understanding the working of the department, they are replaced and the matters get into the dust again. "Other than Mansoob, none of the acting directors were from the education department, which is why it took them time to understand the system of the department," the employee claimed.

On the other hand, Mansoob told The Express Tribune that the biggest issue of not having a permanent director is that many teachers are waiting since years for promotions.

"They have made a new management cadre on which the district officers are getting incentives of around Rs0.2 million, other than their salaries," he said. Mansoob added that the department is supposed to ensure that enrolment in schools increases and quality is maintained but the department is failing to do any of these due to these management issues.

From the total of 42,000 employees in the department, many have been waiting since almost 25 years for promotions while some are even retiring on the same posts, he said. "It is a clear matter of injustice in the education department and there should be a permanent director posted at the earliest," Siddiqui said.