Switching allegiances: Orphaned and neglected

FDE teachers request to be shifted under purview of newly created ministry.

ISLAMABAD:

Teachers of federal government educational institutes want the newly created Ministry of Professional and Technical Training to take control of the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE).

These institutes currently come under the purvey of the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD). A delegation of teachers recently met with the Professional and Technical Training Minister Riaz Hussain Pirzada and requested the change, alleging that CADD has failed to work effectively and has left education department employees in a state of anxiety.

FDE has been under CADD since the devolution of the federal Ministry of Education under the 18th Amendment, where a large number of departments were brought under the newly created body. Because the division is not under any ministry, issues relating to the education department allegedly remain unresolved.

The teachers alleged that several important issues have been waylaid by bureaucratic elements within CADD that, in the absence of any ministers to push them, have created repeated delays.

“Our department is like an orphan and we face numerous problems just to meet with a joint secretary,” said Federal Government Teachers Association General Secretary Professor Tahir Mehmood.

He added that if the head of CADD was a political figure, he may have been more aware of the issues being faced at the grassroots level and they would have been resolved much earlier.

“If the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE) is under the ministry of professional and technical training, why isn’t the FDE?” Mehmood asked.

Pirzada has allegedly assured the delegation that his ministry would take over the FDE immediately and that the matter would be discussed with the prime minister.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th, 2011.