Hindering progress: Nearly 5,000 teachers face career stagnation

PESHAWAR:

Red tape has become an obstacle in the promotion of thousands of employees in the education sector.

Official sources in Civil Secretariat told The Express Tribune on Tuesday that more than 5,000 employees in the elementary and secondary education department have been ‘thwarted’ from due promotions and occupying vacant positions in the next employment grades.

The secretariat’s finance department has allocated the requisite amount for promotions, but employees in the secondary and elementary education department serving in grades 17 to 20 have not been promoted. Their progress should have followed the four-tier formula, developed for subject specialists.

Within the elementary and secondary education department, subject specialists are those who teach English, Urdu, Pre-medical and Pre-engineering and other such subjects at secondary levels in government schools.

In January 2012, the incumbent government issued a notification to promote subject specialist teaching cadre into subsequent grades according to the set formula. The formula was meant to be implemented from July 1, 2012. Due to the large number of employees and fiscal burdens the government then decided to make the promotions in two phases. The first phase was meant to start from July 1, 2012 and the second phase from July 1, 2013.

Despite the lapse of seven months, the first phase is yet to be implemented. Approximately 5,000 employees (many in grade 17) have been stagnated in their current grades and unable to fill vacancies in the next grades because of officials with vested interests, sources say.

According to officials, who requested not to be named, these include an executive official at the planning and development department and a director at the secondary and elementary education department.

“Under the rules, a meeting of the Provincial Selection Board (PSB) is held on the last Tuesday and Wednesday of the month to review promotions and vacant post positions in various government departments,” said the source.

The PSB meetings, often headed by chief secretary of K-P, decides on promotions, transfers and filling vacant positions in many departments except the elementary and secondary education department.

President of All Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Subject Specialist Association (AKSSA) Salar Islam Tariq confirmed the non-implementation. “Due to delaying tactics the formula is yet to be implemented even though it was supposed to be brought into effect from July 1, 2012,” he said.

AKSSA Press Secretary Hafeezullah Wazir complained subject specialists’ experience of teaching at secondary level was not considered when they applied for the position of Assistant Professor at colleges and universities. He said they often held MEd, MPhil and, in some cases, PhD degrees and are in no way inferior to college and university staff in the province.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 30^th, 2013.