Sindh education dept’s IT system down since 15 days

Employees fear delay in the payment of salaries

KARACHI: Sindh Education and Literary Department employees continued to face inconvenience as the department's IT system couldn't be restored since it became non-functional about 15 days ago.

The employees fear that their salaries might not be issued on time, as the biometric system at the department has stopped working since the system went down. It has been reported that a number of employees' biometric details couldn't be verified and they had to return back disappointed.

The failure of biometric system has led to difficulties in the way of issuing orders for salaries pensions and transfers. Additionally, the department's website has also been down since the IT system's failure and all data from the department's database has been erased. According to Sindh Education and Literary Department sources, data of all the employees has been erased since the department's former IT officer Shahid Abro left. It is suspected that Abro erased the data before leaving.



To probe  into the matter further, a four-member investigation team has been formed on the directives of School Education Secretary Qazi Parvez Shahid. Led by the Reform Support Unit Head Asif Ikram, the team includes Monitoring and Evolution Director General Shahmir Bhutto and IT Assistant Professor Saein Daud Tunio.

The team has been tasked to investigate the reason behind the IT system's failure and suggest ways to restore the system. It has also been asked to probe whether the intent of the person responsible for the system's failure was criminal.

The team has to submit a report, identifying the person responsible for the system's failure, within five days.

Meanwhile, a team of experts from a private IT company also checked the department's IT system and concluded that the system has become completely non-functional.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 26^th, 2019.