Ignored for promotion, teachers mull protest

Say seniors should be upgraded first instead of juniors

ISLAMABAD:

Senior School Teachers (SSTs) working in schools run by the federal government (FG) in Islamabad are mulling plans to stage street protests if they are not promoted in favour of junior colleagues, The Express Tribune learnt.

Sources have told The Express Tribune that the Federal Ministry of Education and Professional Training has completed the process of drafting a list of candidates who will be promoted to the next grades.

However, some 1,500 SSTs have failed to make the cut.

The Express Tribune has further learnt that some junior teachers, working in the federal government (FG) schools operating under the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE), have been preferred for promotion by the selection committee formed by the education ministry to oversee the matter.

Perplexed at this, SST educators have decided to stage a protest if they are not promoted once the lists are published.

Documents available with The Express Tribune show that the post of a teacher in basic pay scale (BPS) grade 16 has been abolished in the FG schools and all teachers in that grade were promoted to BPS-17 in January 2011.

Later, by August of the same year, the post of the Deputy Head Master (DHM) in FG schools was also abolished and replaced by SST. Some 35 DHMs availed this promotion.

In this regard, FDE officials say that some 50 seats of vice-principals were lying vacant in different educational institutions on which SSTs deserve to be promoted.

However, the federal education ministry has now prepared promotion lists whereby these senior educators have been ignored and juniors have been recommended for an upgrade.

SSTs believe that the promotions to the next posts should be carried out based on their seniority in the job, linked to the date they joined the directorate.

Further, ministry officials said that a committee formed to oversee promotions has submitted its report to the related officials. Further processes will be carried out after due deliberation on the report.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 28^th, 2020.