Higher education: 2,506 lecturers await postings in Punjab
Secretary says joining letters will be issued before end of fiscal year.
LAHORE:
More than eight months have passed since the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) started the process for the recruitment of 2,506 lecturers for the Higher Education Department (HED), but not a single lecturer has been invited to join the job yet, The Express Tribune has learnt.
The candidates said that the delay in the issuance of joining letters to them was causing financial hardships. Higher Education Secretary Dr Ijaz Munir told The Express Tribune that the letters would be issued soon and certainly before the start of the next financial year.
According to the official Higher Education Department record, 75 per cent of the selected candidates had sent in acceptance letters by February, but they are still to be informed of where they will be posted.
One candidate who was selected as a journalism lecturer said that he believed the department was deliberately delaying the process. For one, the summer vacations were starting in June and would continue till August and the government would not have to pay them their salaries for this period. He said that delaying their date of joining would also affect them at the end of their careers in terms of pension benefits.
“This is an injustice,” he said. “Hundreds of selected candidates have resigned from their previous jobs or been denied extensions in their contracts because they have accepted government jobs.
They are waiting to join so their service starts and they get salaries. The officials in the Higher Education Department however aren’t ready to listen to our complaints and don’t give us a definite answer on when we will join.”
Another selected candidate said that he had been told of three potential places he could be appointed to, but not been given a final decision.
The PPSC started the recruitment process in August and the last date for applying was September 9. It selected 2,506 candidates, of which 1,456 are male and 1,050 female. These include 50 disabled candidates and 126 minorities candidates selected on reserved seats.
“The appointment letters mentioning the place and date of joining were earlier issued by the director for public instruction, Colleges, but this time the Higher Education Department secretary is looking into this matter and the HED will issue the joining letters. If these lecturers don’t join before June 30, the date when the financial year ends, their service will start in the next financial year,” an HED official said.
Higher Education Secretary Dr Ijaz Munir said that he had monitored the entire appointments process to ensure transparency and he was just days away from beginning to issue appointment letters. He said the delay in appointments had nothing to do with financial considerations. He said the selected candidates would start their service in the current financial year.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 7th, 2012.
More than eight months have passed since the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) started the process for the recruitment of 2,506 lecturers for the Higher Education Department (HED), but not a single lecturer has been invited to join the job yet, The Express Tribune has learnt.
The candidates said that the delay in the issuance of joining letters to them was causing financial hardships. Higher Education Secretary Dr Ijaz Munir told The Express Tribune that the letters would be issued soon and certainly before the start of the next financial year.
According to the official Higher Education Department record, 75 per cent of the selected candidates had sent in acceptance letters by February, but they are still to be informed of where they will be posted.
One candidate who was selected as a journalism lecturer said that he believed the department was deliberately delaying the process. For one, the summer vacations were starting in June and would continue till August and the government would not have to pay them their salaries for this period. He said that delaying their date of joining would also affect them at the end of their careers in terms of pension benefits.
“This is an injustice,” he said. “Hundreds of selected candidates have resigned from their previous jobs or been denied extensions in their contracts because they have accepted government jobs.
They are waiting to join so their service starts and they get salaries. The officials in the Higher Education Department however aren’t ready to listen to our complaints and don’t give us a definite answer on when we will join.”
Another selected candidate said that he had been told of three potential places he could be appointed to, but not been given a final decision.
The PPSC started the recruitment process in August and the last date for applying was September 9. It selected 2,506 candidates, of which 1,456 are male and 1,050 female. These include 50 disabled candidates and 126 minorities candidates selected on reserved seats.
“The appointment letters mentioning the place and date of joining were earlier issued by the director for public instruction, Colleges, but this time the Higher Education Department secretary is looking into this matter and the HED will issue the joining letters. If these lecturers don’t join before June 30, the date when the financial year ends, their service will start in the next financial year,” an HED official said.
Higher Education Secretary Dr Ijaz Munir said that he had monitored the entire appointments process to ensure transparency and he was just days away from beginning to issue appointment letters. He said the delay in appointments had nothing to do with financial considerations. He said the selected candidates would start their service in the current financial year.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 7th, 2012.