Body formed to assess FDE devolution issue

Senate committee urges teachers to end boycott and resume classes

ISLAMABAD:

The Senate Standing Committee on Education has formed a committee to revisit and evaluate the decision of putting the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) under the administrative control of the Islamabad mayor through an ordinance.

The committee, headed by Ministry of Education and Vocational Training Parliamentary Secretary Wajiha Qamar, will also take into consideration the reservations of the teaching and non-teaching staff of the FDE, who have shut down schools in Islamabad after the federal government placed the educational regulatory body under the Islamabad mayor.

The FDE Joint Action Committee will also have representation in the committee.

Read Moot to discuss education-related issues

A meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Education chaired by chairman Senator Irfan Siddiqui asked the committee to present its report within 15 days after a thorough assessment of the federal government’s decision and taking input of all stakeholders including teachers.

The Senate committee also urged teachers to start a dialogue with the education ministry and call off their protest strike.

Senator Irfan Siddiqui urged the FDE Joint Action Committee representatives to resume their duty keeping in view the future of hundreds of students.

FDE Joint Action Committee officials Fazal Muula, Malik Amir Khan, Sardar Siddique and others told the Senate committee that the issue surfaced after the promulgation of the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Ordinance 2021, under which the FED educational institutions had been placed under the administrative control of Islamabad Municipal Corporation (MCI) and the Islamabad mayor.

They expressed reservations over their service and promotion structure under the MCI as civil servants.

They also raised concerns over the budget the MCI faces typically.

The JAC members said the ordinance was a blatant violation of the Civil Service Act and they will have a bleak future after becoming part of the MCI.

Senator Irfan Siddiqui remarked that apparently, there was no need to issue the ordinance in such a hurry which led to chaos. He said that hundreds of students of the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), who had already suffered due to coronavirus pandemic, were suffering further due to the teachers’ strike.

Senator Rana Maqbool Ahmed expressed concerns over the rising trend of issuing ordinances by bypassing the parliament.

The Senate panel stressed that all stakeholders should have been taken into confidence before the issuance of the ordinance.

Senators Aijaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Fauzia Arshad and Mehar Taj Roghani said that the reservations of the educators must be addressed despite the measure being in the right direction.

Senator Rukhsana Zubairi said that the decision was a negative step that will inflict serious damage to the education system in the ICT.

The committee also expressed concerns over the qualification of the writers and the criteria of their selection for writing textbooks.

It also called for reviewing the content of textbooks and correcting all typographical errors.

The Senate panel said that the uniform national curriculum should also be enforced in religious seminaries.

The committee chairman said that all matters will be discussed thoroughly at the next meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 8^th, 2021.