A year’s funds exhausted in six months, court told

Feeder teachers not paid, no one ready to admit responsibility.

KARACHI:

Ghulam Mustafa, a ‘feeder teacher’, has filed a constitutional petition in the Sindh High Court, stating that they have not been paid for six months, from January to June 2010.

Feeder teachers are employed under the National Commission for Human Development’s (NCHD) programme to teach in remote union councils in Thatta where there are no government schools.

Earlier, the court was told that Rs40.32 million were allocated for a year to pay their salaries but this amount was exhausted in just six months. “It is strange and unbelievable that the whole amount was consumed,” the division bench, comprising Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Shahid Anwar Bajwa, had observed.

On Wednesday, the bench inquired about this from the officer who was responsible for disbursing salaries, who told the court that he only followed orders and was not a disbursing authority. The bench noted that none of the respondents were prepared to shoulder the responsibility.

It then ordered the education secretary, the Thatta DCO and the Thatta education EDO to appear on May 25 at 11 am to explain the anomaly.

Unqualified teachers

The same bench ordered on Wednesday the education secretary to hold an inquiry and find out who was responsible for issuing job offer letters to candidates who did not qualify as teachers.

The bench was hearing 16 identical petitions filed by Amanullah and one hundred others who were given job offers, but were denied any postings. Their offer letters were then cancelled without any reason given.

The education secretary shall issue a show-cause notice to officers who gave the offers within a month and make an inquiry after another month. The secretary shall submit a report before the bench, the court ordered while adjourning the hearing to a later date.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 5^th, 2011.