Teachers demand payment of hiring allowance

Say hiring ceiling for teachers far less than rents of hired houses

ISLAMABAD:

The college teachers of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) have expressed serious concerns over the inordinate delay in the release of their rental ceiling/hiring allowance.

They said that the authorities concerned have not released the hiring sum for the last one year and they have to pay rent to landlords from their own pockets.

They also said that discrimination has been meted out to them by the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) in assessing the rental ceiling of teachers. They said that the rental ceiling for teachers was far less than the rents of hired houses.

They said that the landlords repeatedly demand early payment of the hiring amount, but in the absence of the release of the allowance, teachers were compelled to borrow money either from relatives and friends or banks to pay the rent.

A lecturer at a local college on the condition of anonymity said, "Public money is misused on the fake repair of furniture, vehicles and on different false purchases every year but there is always no budget to pay rental ceiling of the teachers.

They said that the owners of the houses are threatening the teachers with eviction if rent is not paid timely. Another lecturer who has hired a house in Sector E-17 after getting loans from his relatives said, "I fulfilled the entire requirement for the hired house from my own pocket. The covered area of my house was even more than the required area but the rent assessment committee of FDE assessed the rent below the ceiling fixed by the government. I was maltreated by the FDE rent assessment committee which fixed my rental ceiling one category below and denied the rightful privilege".

"On the other hand, my counterparts in other government departments have been receiving the rental ceiling of their houses according to their scale. This is sheer discrimination against us. Teachers have no access to higher authorities to do justice in this regard,” the lecturer said.

Federal Government College Teachers’ Association President Dr Rahima Rahman said the payment of the rental ceiling was not made smoothly and was delayed for months. As a result, she said, teachers pay rents to landlords from their own pockets or arrange money in the shape of loans.

“Contrary to that, employees working in ministries and other government departments never faced any difficulty in availing the house-hiring facility. They always get payment well in time and according to their rental ceiling and covered area of the house but in the case of teachers, there are different standards, Dr Rahman said.

“The teachers are not being paid according to their ceiling and covered area because the rent assessment committee of FDE has put in place its own inspection procedure of approving or disapproving the rental ceiling,” she said.

She further said, "Teachers have been deprived of their due rights and fair demands but despite their efforts, they are unheard of and are facing severe financial issues. What performance can the government expect from a teacher who is always a victim of such perils? The new government should take notice of this and adopt a strategy for clearing the rental ceiling on time for the teachers, she said urging the authorities to pay the rental ceiling immediately to facilitate the teachers.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 11^th, 2022.