Hunt begins for chairmen of eight education boards

Search Committee will start interviewing aspiring candidates from Jan 9

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KARACHI:

The Search Committee constituted for selecting chairmen for universities and education boards in Sindh has scheduled interviews for the appointment of heads for the eight education boards in the province.

These interviews will take place over three days: Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, from January 9 to 11. Letters have already been sent to the aspiring candidates.

Six out of the eight education boards in Sindh have been without permanent chairmen for over a decade. Both the Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK) and Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK) have been without permanent chairmen for several years, with acting chairmen filling the roles. After reviewing the applications, the Search Committee will interview a total of 271 candidates.

The advertisement for the chairman positions of Sukkur, Larkana, Mirpurkhas, Nawabshah, and Hyderabad education boards, as well as the secondary and higher secondary education boards of Karachi and the Sindh Board of Technical Education, was issued in Dec 2023. Applications were accepted until January 2024.

Initially, the Sindh government planned to conduct a written test for the candidates through IBA Karachi due to the large number of applicants. However, some candidates challenged this decision in court, arguing that the requirement for a written test was not mentioned in the original advertisement. The court ruled in favour of the candidates and ordered that the appointments proceed based solely on interviews, without the written test.

The Search Committee for these interviews includes permanent members such as Dr Tariq Rafi, Chairman of Sindh HEC; Moin Siddiqui, Secretary of Sindh HEC; Abbas Baloch, Secretary of Universities and Boards; and Asif Ikram, Secretary of College Education. Additionally, co-opted members include Dr Sarosh Lodhi, Vice Chancellor of NED University, and Dr Muhammad Memon, former Chairman of the Hyderabad Board.