Teachers seek selection board moot

Say promotions to vacant seats will help boost morale

ISLAMABAD:

Teachers at colleges operated by the federal government in the federal capital have expressed their annoyance over delays in holding a meeting of the Departmental Selection Board (DSB) by the relevant authorities.

An official source stated that over 40 posts of male and female teachers of basic pay scale (BPS) grade 19 in educational institutions have been lying vacant in the federal capital, including 20 posts of Associate Professors in federal government colleges.

"The meeting of the Departmental Selection Board (DSB) is supposed to be held twice a year depending on vacant posts, but it was not held despite the available vacant posts of associate professors (male and female)," said Professor Mehdi Hussain, adding that the last meeting of the board was held on September 4.

If 20 assistant professors get a promotion, it will have a trickle-down effect as 20 posts of assistant professor will become vacant and lecturers can be promoted, later on, he said.

A female teacher on the condition of anonymity said, "officers of other departments and ministries get a rapid promotion, but the process of promoting teacher is exceptionally slow and usually they have to wait for decades."

"Teachers who are considered as nation builders have been deliberately deprived of their fundamental rights by the concerned authorities,” she said, “They have been marginalised and pushed against the wall. The career of teachers is in utter jeopardy due to general neglect of the department."

Ayesha, a lecturer at Islamabad Model College for Girls (Postgraduate) Sector F-7/2, said that delays in promotion have demoralised teachers and creates distress and frustration amongst them which may badly affect the efficiency of a teacher in the classroom.

There is a need for recognition of deserving teachers by granting them promotion in a timely manner, she said, adding that DPC for the grant of higher time-scale should also meet without delay for giving relief to the Islamabad's teaching community as the grant of the time scale for lecturers has been pending for the last eight years.

A representative of Federal Government College Teachers Association (FGCTA), Professor Tahir Mahmood, said that assistant professors are deprived of their due promotion to the posts of associate professors as the meeting of DSB have not been convened yet.

He requested the federal education ministry secretary to hold an early meeting of the board.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, Septe0mber 21^st, 2020.