Jacobabad’s education office busted for hiring 3,000 people for 150 posts

Fuming deputy commissioner cancels appointments, calls for an inquiry.

JACOBABAD: Jacobabad’s deputy commissioner, Muhammad Rafique Buriro, is livid that the district’s education office had appointed 3,000 people for 150 vacancies in less than three months - right under his nose.

Buriro called a meeting on Saturday in which he discussed the recent hires in the education department. The district’s education officer, Shan Muhammad Brohi, senior district officer Hafiz Abdul Shakoor Banglani and district officers Sadique Katohar and Haji Azizullah Odho were among those who attended the meeting.

Buriro had brought medical fitness reports he procured from the district’s hospital, saying that over 3,000 people had taken the mandatory tests required for appointment and had subsequently been hired.

The fuming deputy commissioner then ordered all appointments to be cancelled, saying that according to the law, not a single person can be hired without his approval. The education officer asked Buriro for a month to compile a report on the matter.

Sources privy to the matter said that the deputy commissioner is also going to write a letter to the province’s education department, informing them of the performance of the district’s education officials. Another meeting to discuss the issue will be held on Tuesday.

The matter of alleged mismanagement and corruption in the appointment of teachers has already been taken to court. About 40 teachers filed a petition in Sindh High Court recently, claiming that merit was ignored during appointments. The high court has ordered education officials to appear before it on November 22.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 12^th, 2012.