ISLAMABAD:
Over nine months have passed since the announcement of the Prime Minister’s package for federal government teachers, and yet, it has not been implemented before the upcoming budget.
The package was announced by the prime minister in November last on Salam Teacher Day.
“Except the promotions of some teachers, the entire package is yet to be implemented in letter and spirit due to bureaucratic hurdles”, said Shahid Mehmood, an executive member of Federal Government Teachers Association. He said teachers are frustrated and seek urgent implementation of the package, but frequent posting of FDE DGs and other bureaucratic tactics present hurdles.
He said that grade-14 teachers have been promoted to grade-16 and some grade-9 teachers have also been promoted to grade 14, but other issues still remained unresolved. The teacher’s package, which included the upgradation and merging of FG and model school and college set up, abolition of evening shifts, enhancement in charge allowance and hard area allowance and provision of transport facility was announced last year but has not been fully implemented yet.
Federal Government Teachers Association President Azhar Mehmood said that some issues have been settled and the new FDE DG Atif Mehmood Kayani is determined to implement the package shortly. He was optimistic that the new DG would take their case to the highest level as he has political background. He underlined the need for early implementation of the unification of all institutions by converting FG schools into models schools, ending evening shifts, providing equal budget to all government schools, and uniform pay scales for teachers.
He said that such steps would facilitate children by giving access to quality education, irrespective of which sector the students reside in.
The teachers’ package has been termed a first-ever historic initiative for introducing a unified system of education in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) to make it an example for others. It was reflective of the government’s seriousness regarding the uplift of education, as well as the teachers’ community, but it seems that the efforts to implement it will go in vain, they said.
Federal Government College Teachers Association Press Secretary Professor Tahir said the associations and teachers have launched several protests to get the package implemented and the upgradation file is lying with Establishment Secretary Abdur Rauf Chaudhry after being approved by the Capital Administration Development Division.
Only a few days are left before the announcement of the budget, while summer vacations will also start from June 1, Tahir said.
According to the package, the federal government and model educational institutions were supposed to be merged, but the only change is that FG schools have been renamed as model schools. The facilities, including infrastructure and faculty have not been changed, due to which parents are hesitant to admit their children in the renamed institutes, Tahir said.
The new academic year has already begun, but the evening shifts in model institutes are still continuing, despite several announcements to abandon the same by shifting evening students to renamed model schools nearby. Parents had long demanded an end to evening shifts in model colleges as students were suffering due to the odd timings, he said.
An FDE official informed that Rs60 million in funding will lapse if the package is not implemented before the budget.
Despite repeated attempts, the new FDE DG did not attend his cell phone.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 30th, 2011.
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