Crackdown against ghost teachers intensifies in Balochistan

Education dept suspends more than 2,000 over absenteeism

QUETTA: As part of a comprehensive crackdown against teacher absenteeism and non-functional schools, the Balochistan education department last week suspended over 2,000 teachers across the province over their continued absence from duty.

Balochistan Education Secretary Tayyab Lehri said on Monday that the teachers who were suspended belonged to Quetta, Pishin, Dera Bugti, Killa Abdullah and other districts of the province.

The provincial government as well as the education department has repeatedly said that it was launching a crackdown against chronically absent teachers to address the problem of ghost schools.

The secretary said that the suspended teachers were repeatedly issued show-cause notices to explain their absence and ensure their presence in schools. However, despite reminders, the teachers failed to turn up for duty, resulting in the issuance of suspension orders, Lehri said.

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The number of government teachers from primary to high school levels is more than 70,000 in Balochistan. This is not the first time the provincial government has launched a crackdown against 'ghost' and absentee teachers, but its scale is unprecedented.

On Saturday, Lehri said that notices had been issued to 81 teachers in Dera Bugti. Over 200 of those issued notices belong to Pishin, while the rest come from other districts of the province.

The secretary had remarked that the education department was faced with an appalling situation where hundreds of ghost employees were drawing salaries without performing their duties to the detriment of students as well as the system of education in the province.

The crackdown came as Minister for Information and Finance Zahoor Buledi and adviser to the Balochistan chief minister for education Mohammad Khan Lehri held an important meeting to review the state of education in the province.

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The meeting had decided to make over 1,800 non-functional schools functional and upgrade 67 middle schools and 80 higher secondary schools in the province, the information minister said.

He said that inquiry committees have been set up to investigate the cases of chronically absent teachers. The educators have been suspended in the first phase, and will be terminated from service if found guilty after the inquiry.

"The inquiry committees are going to decide the fate of absentee teachers within 30 days," the education secretary informed.

Furthermore, it was also decided to investigate those employees of the education department who held more than one job. In an earlier meeting, Lehri was informed that dozens of employees of the education department were working in the media industry.