CM suspends Sindh Textbook Board chairman

Chairman of Sindh Textbook Board (STB) Agha Suhail Ahmed has been suspended on the orders of Caretaker Chief Minister Justice (retd) Maqbool Baqar over “inefficiency, mismanagement, and acts of misconduct”, as per a notification obtained by The Express Tribune.

Before his suspension, Ahmed, a BS-20 civil servant, was repeatedly questioned regarding a significant shortage of free textbooks for the 2023-24 academic year. The charge sheet revealed that despite allocation of Rs2.530 billion in the budget for free textbooks during the financial year 2022-23, only 100 per cent of the amount was released, leaving a shortfall of 50 to 70 per cent in distribution.

Sources allege that Ahmed, along with his team, has been involved in massive corruption and mismanagement within the STB, which provides free textbooks to public schools across the province. The charge sheet underlines that despite the release of over two billion rupees, the shortage of textbooks, as reported by the directors of the School Education and Literacy Department, ranged from 50% to 70%.

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Concerns raised in print and social media prompted an inquiry by the interim government in November. With the approval of CM Baqar, Ahmed was suspended on Dec 8. At the same time, an inquiry was initiated by the Chief Minister’s Inspection and Enquiries Team, accompanied by a 30-question questionnaire sent to Ahmed.

While speaking to The Express Tribune, Ahmed vehemently denied the charges as “baseless.” He expressed confusion regarding the grounds for his suspension and questioned the motives behind the “conspiracy” against him. Ahmed claimed that CM Baqar had previously shown trust in him by inaugurating a book distribution ceremony.

Ahmed sought to shift responsibility for the shortage of textbooks by saying “I was not the person who issued the tender,” and pointed to the former STB chairman, Pervez Baloch, and the current secretary, Hafeezullah Mahar, as responsible.

In response to administrative failures, the School Education and Literacy Department issued a notification to remove STB Secretary Nusrat Parveen Sahito, appointing Sindh Education Policy Commission Additional Director Prof Hafeezullah Mahar as her replacement.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 21^st, 2023.