Punjab

Information Service Academy: Officers feel short-changed by training programme

Say training period cut short, one country study tour denied.

Our Correspondent February 26, 2012 1 min read

LAHORE:

Officers being taught at the Information Service Academy (ISA) say their training period is being truncated in violation of the rules, though the administration of the academy denied this.

The academy is currently training 28 officers newly recruited through the Federal Public Service Commission for the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Their training at the academy started in July 2011 and is supposed to end in June.

However, several officers told The Express Tribune that they had been informed by the management that they would be sent on ‘attachment’ – a kind of internship – to various departments from March.

They said that the training programme was supposed to include two one-week country study tours, but they had only been on one two-day tour, when they visited Governor’s House, the Punjab Seed Corporation, Millat Tractors and a newspaper office.

The officers were sent on leave for the period when they were supposed to go on the second study tour, they said. “This has caused resentment,” said one officer.

“The facilities on campus and at the hostels aren’t good either,” he said, referring to the academy in Islamabad. “Sanitation, cleanliness and security are poor and Internet facilities are lacking.”

Other officers said that four of the under-training officers were from Sindh and they felt discriminated against by the management in the grant of leaves and facilities in the hostels.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting provided Rs130 million to the ISA for the training of new officers for 2011-12.

Zahoor Ahmed Barlas, the academy’s director (administration), denied that the training period was being cut short. He said that a second study tour may be arranged, but did not say when. He denied any discrimination against the officers from Sindh. He said the facilities on campus were provided by the government.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 26^th, 2012.