Ad for Sindh's top education officials smacks of ‘favouritism’

Critics say age-limits specified for board chairpersons, VCs limits pool of eligible candidates

KARACHI: The saga that is the hiring process for top education posts in Sindh seems to court one controversy after another.

Most recently, an advertisement the province’s Universities and Boards Department circulated for the appointment of education board chairpersons and vice-chancellors has become a bone of contention for many would-be hopefuls.

Initially, the ad for six board chairpersons and three public university VCs initially restricted the minimum age of applicants to 50 years and maximum age to 60 years, drawing some frustration from those who saw the move as a barrier to bringing young blood to senior positions.

In a corrigendum, however, the maximum age for the VC posts for the Karachi University, Sheikh Ayaz University Shikarpur and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University Benazirabad was increased to 65 years, prompting some to see it as an attempt at hiring ‘pre-selected’ candidates. The change in policy in the midst of the appointment process also creates another issue - if a 65-year-old candidate is in fact hired, their tenure would only last four years under rules and regulations.

“It seems that the Universities and Boards Department wants to appoint favored or recommended people, aged above 50, for the post. The candidates are however aged below 60,” a senior education board official told The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity.

Talking about the ad for board chairpersons, he said the specified age bracket, along with the necessary experience and qualifications, limits the number of eligible candidates. “The department is likely to receive only a few applications, which will weed out competition and ease the appointment of a preferred chairperson for the board,” he suggested.

The new maximum age limit of 60 years set in the ad for the chairperson of the educational boards renders ineligible both the Board of Intermediate Education Karachi Chairperson Prof Inaam Ahmed and Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Sukkur Mujtaba Shah on account of being older than 63.

The corrigendum for the VC appointment ad also reduced the number of required research papers published by candidates to 15 from the previous 25, which further hints that the move is perhaps aimed at favouring certain candidates over others.

In a press statement, Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (FPUASA) Sindh General Secretary Dr Iftikhar Ali Ghumro condemned the corrigendum, calling it a violation of the Universities Act and a ‘nepotistic ploy’. He demanded the immediate withdrawal of the ad “to set things right.”

“It is a condition set by the Higher Education Commission in Sindh. Setting 50 years of age in the ad for board chairpersons is an attempt to find mature candidates while increasing the maximum age limit would allow more people to serve,” the Universities and Boards secretary said in response to a question about the ad.