Sindh education dept begins crackdown on absentee teachers

Around 18,000 such teachers have been issued show cause notices

KARACHI: The Sindh Education and Literacy Department has begun taking action against teachers who have been taking salaries while remaining absent for long periods of time. The department decided on Tuesday to issue show-cause notices to 18,000 such teachers. They have been summoned before the department and those found guilty will be dismissed.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, School Education Secretary Qazi Shahid Parvez said that according to the monitoring and evaluation report of the current year, there are 18,000 teachers in Sindh who aren't actually present in schools while others remain perpetually absent. Action will be taken against such teachers under Efficiency and Discipline Rules 1973, said Parvez, adding that decisions would be made according to law.

Elementary, primary and secondary school teachers of various subjects, have been issued show-cause notices. Each teacher will have to appear before the department in person and provide an explanation in their defence. The higher-ups will decide what action would be taken against teachers who claim they were transferred elsewhere and thus could not report.

According to Parvez, the process would take around a month and decisions would be taken thereafter.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 5^th, 2019.