In the back drop of government school principals seeking regularisation staging a sit-in outside the Sindh Assembly, Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani has expressed helplessness in meeting their demands, citing the contradictory orders of two separate Sindh High Court benches.
The principals were appointed on the post after they passed exams conducted by the Institute of Business Administration, Sukkur.
Tuesday marked the 15th day of their protest, when the principals, after crossing barricades placed by the police, marched towards the provincial assembly from the Karachi Press Club and staged a sit-in. The sit-in had not ended till the filing of this report on Wednesday, with the protesters holding firm to their demands of regularisation and not making it conditional to appearing in a test conducted by the Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC).
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“But the Sindh cabinet cannot make them permanent in light of [two separate and contradictory] court orders,” said Ghani while addressing a press conference on Wednesday.
He said he and the Sindh information minister had a talk with the protesters the previous day and informed them the same.
According to Ghani, the protesters were among 957 candidates who were appointed as school principals on a contract under a World Bank programme in 2017.
“Those who weren’t appointed approached the Sindh High Court,” he said, adding that in 2018, a Karachi bench directed the Sindh chief secretary to scrutinise the newly appointed principals and submit a report within two months. Moreover, the bench instructed the secretary to comply with the Supreme Court (SC) ruling issued in the Ali Azhar Khan Baloch case, under which all appoints on grade-17 posts were to be made through the SPSC, said Ghani.
“Within a year the case was taken up with the Sindh cabinet for the regularisation of the principals, but no decision could be made due to the court order,” maintained Ghani. “And, in light of the order, we referred the case to the SPSC so that the principals could be recruited through the body.”
Consequently, Ghani explained, some of the newly appointed principals approach the high court in Hyderabad.
“The Hyderabad bench directed the government not to dismiss the principals and continue paying them salaries,” the minister said. “And so, we extended their contracts for six months.”
He added, “We have now requested the protesting principals to appear in the SPSC tests.”
Ghani said while the Sindh government was willing to regularise the principals, it was restricted by the court orders.
The minister further stated that the provincial government had apprised the SHC chief justice of matter and requested him to issue a final and definite ruling.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 18th, 2021.
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