Sans ministerial oversight: Secretaries’ whims rule the roost in Sindh education dept

Without a dedicated minister, top dept officials give additional roles, perks to officers already working full time

KARACHI: Sindh’s education department is in shambles. The public sector institutes it oversees are in a state of disarray as is evident from the dismal performance of their students this year. If that alone were not enough, for three months now the wing has been functioning without a dedicated education minister, leading to a state of department-wide disorder with irregularities aplenty.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, sources in the department said it was currently being run according to the whims of its various secretaries, some of whom have been taking advantage of the lack of ministerial oversight to award additional charges along with associated perks and privileges to selected Sindh government officers.

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All pay, little work

The latest of such development sees certain Grade 17 and 18 Provincial Secretariat Service officers being awarded positions in the directorates of primary and secondary school education in addition to the offices they currently hold. Not only that, some of them have been assigned additional charge in various sections of the school education department as section officers.

According to the notification issued to this effect, these officers as a result of their additional responsibilities will be entitled to an allowance of between Rs75,000 and Rs125,000 on top of their current salaries. Sources said the problematic appointments were made at the behest of Schools Education Secretary Ahsan Mangi, who signed the notification in question. They suggested Mangi assigned additional charge solely to blue-eyed officers.

Mismanagement

Discussing the issues such appointments create, education department officials said they would effectively turn the officers into ‘ghost employees’ of the sections they have been assigned additional charge for.

“Since they are already working as full-time employees in other sections and departments, they will be unable to carry out their additional duties and leave behind a lot of work for subordinate staff,” said one official on condition of anonymity. “This, in the end, would be a gross abuse of taxpayer money.”

The official also warned that some of the aforementioned appointments also ignored conflicts of interest as certain officers have been assigned charge for offices subordinate to them.

“Three Grade 19 additional education secretaries have been assigned additional duties in the Primary School Education Directorate. Since the additional secretaries are ranked higher than school education directors, this creates a situation where the former can easily avoid accountability,” he said.



Administrative concerns

Beyond problematic appointments, the lack of an education minister has had wider negative implications on the department as well. “Some of the other problems include the department being unable to release the report that forms the basis of its policies,” said another education department official. “The report has been withheld since once institute the department oversees could not furnish its own annual report despite exceeding the given timeframe.”

The Express Tribune tried contacting the Schools Education Secretary Mangi for his response to allegations of irregularities in the education department, but despite repeated attempts, he was unavailable for comment.

It is pertinent to mention that Mangi replaced Qazi Shahid Pervez as schools education secretary shortly after the chief minister relieved former education minister Sardar Ali Shah of his duties in August. The chief minister has kept the education portfolio with himself since then.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 24^th, 2019.