Will PM, senior bureaucrats enrol their children in public schools?

ISLAMABAD: The current state of public schools and colleges in the capital is so abysmal that the privileged classes of society, particularly those from the policy-making segment, seldom send their children to government-run institutions, observed Justice Athar Minallah of the Islamabad High Court in a judgment passed on Wednesday.

“[This] Court can only wonder whether the chief executive of the country, the in-charge minister or the concerned federal secretary would enrol their children in public schools where teachers are appointed on a daily-wage basis, and that too in a non-transparent manner and paid out of the student fund,” Justice Minallah observed.



This alarming situation in a critical sector  —  education — led Justice Minallah to state that it is a constitutional obligation on the federal government to take urgent steps to ensure that the fundamental rights of every child enrolled in public schools remain protected.

“The fundamental rights of every student enrolled in a public school would stand protected the day the chief executive of this country, the concerned federal secretary and other privileged persons feel confident about enrolling their children as students in these public schools,” he stated.

Since that is clearly not the case, Justice Minallah noted, these officials had definitely breached a sacred trust and failed to discharge their fiduciary duties in an honest, just and fair manner.

He added that enrolling children of senior government officials may perhaps be the only test which confirms whether the fundamental rights of every child enrolled in public schools are secure.

His observations came in the judgment pertaining to daily-wage teachers who want their services to be regularised.

The court has declared that all appointments, made without prior advertisement and observing the principles of competitive transparency, as illegal and tantamount to misconduct on part of the appointing authority.

In the judgment, Justice Minallah added that he cannot ignore the obvious violation of fundamental rights of the public at large, particularly students enrolled in the schools and colleges —established for the benefit of the general public who cannot afford to send their children to private elite schools.

He, however, observed that most of the petitioners were appointed without observing the principles of transparency and that too on a daily wage basis.

“Payment of salaries of teachers from the Student Fund is a gross violation,” he stated.

“Teachers’ competence may not be in doubt but it is a fundamental right of every student enrolled in these schools or colleges to be taught by the best and most suitable person, which requires a competitive and transparent selection process.,” Justice Minallah wrote.

A non-transparent process, he warned, opens avenues for nepotism at the cost of fundamental rights of the citizens, particularly in the case of “children who are the future of Pakistan.”



“Would the policy makers and those entrusted with the daunting task of implementing and enforcing the policies of the government allow this to happen if their children were going to these schools,” he questioned.

Justice Minallah termed this as a classic case which clearly indicates the priority given to public schools by policymakers, the federal government and the Parliament.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 2^nd, 2017.