Deprived of employment in K-P
It is no secret that differently abled people across the country are deprived of their basic rights be it the lack of wheelchair ramps or other facilities to cater to their disabilities and now more not being employed despite a disability quota.
Mufti Noor-ul-Haq, a 33-year-old, had been applying for a job in the Bajaur District Primary and Secondary Education Department for the last ten years, but could only land a job when he and his colleagues fought a case in court for two years. Finally, in September of 2021 he was recruited, under the disability quota, for the post of an Arabic Teacher in a school in Salarzai Tehsil of the Bajaur District.
Others like Noor-ul-Haq, who had hoped that his employment meant a wind of change was blowing were left disheartened when differently abled people were ignored for the recruitment of vacant teaching spots for the fourth grade. However, this is not a one-off incident, an inquiry held a year ago, by the Directorate of Education for merged districts, regarding the non-recruitment of those with disabilities in the Bajaur district found that from 1995 to 2017, only 22 differently abled teachers were recruited on open merit. The inquiry report states that in the past, a total of 596 male and 415 female teachers were recruited for Grade 4 but not a single one was differently abled. As per the quota, the report states that 12 male and 8 female teachers should be recruited immediately but thus far the local educational department has paid no heed to the report. Even more recently, in the last few months, according to the information obtained from Bajaur District Education Department, by The Express Tribune, under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the education department recruited 205 fourth grade teachers, once again ignoring differently abled teachers.
Inamullah, a resident of Nawagai, who has consistently petitioned the local authorities for the violations of his rights, while talking to the Express Tribune, said, “I applied for a teaching post and then complained to the Deputy Commissioner, Bajaur, but no one listened to me.” Inamullah, informed that along with him 7 other differently abled teachers had applied for the vacant fourth grade seats, but they were ignored. “They [Bajaur Education Department] placed an advertisement in an unknown newspaper and on the day the advert was published, the department bought all the newspaper pamphlets in our area so we could not apply,” he alleged.
The Express Tribune learned that despite an inquiry by the Directorate of Education Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) recommending that the first shortfall of 20 differently abled teachers be met as soon as recruitment of fourth grade positions began - the shortfall, however, has risen to 24 teachers, with regards to the 2% quota and recent hirings.
Hazrat Wali Shah, Chairman of Anjuman-e-Bahalee Mahzoran, an organization for the rehabilitation of persons with disabilities in Bajaur, commenting on the matter said that this was a persistent issue in all merged districts. “We had some success in Bajaur because we went to court but that has been undone by the lack of recruitment of differently abled people for the vacant grade four positions despite having a 2% fixed quota as set by the government,” he lamented to The Express Tribune.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 4th, 2022.