‘No fault of their own’: Over 300 teachers stand to lose out on overdue promotions

They are being held back by incomplete annual reports, pending inquiries.

RAWALPINDI:

More than 300 school teachers in Rawalpindi district might miss out on promotions through no fault of their own, they claim. Another 1,300 will get promoted.

Most of them are being held back for by promotions by the District Promotion Committee (DPC) for incomplete annual confidential reports (ACRs), pending departmental inquiries or for unexplained absences from duties.

Some of the teachers in the predicament say it is not their fault that their annual reports were not completed or inquiries against them were still pending.

The teachers said it was the responsibility of the district education department to see that these were done on time. They resented being penalised for the delay.

One of the affected teachers, asking not to be named, said the rules say the principal of the school or college has to initiate the process by January 7 every year. The district officer then, the counter signing authority, will complete the process by January 30.

That this process has not been completed should not be held against them, said the teacher. He said the education department had been asking them to get their ACRs completed, but the process was beyond their control.

Saghir Alam Chaudhry, representing a local teacher’s union, explained that under the promotion formula, half of the teachers were to remain in the same scale, 34% were to get a one-step promotion, 15% two steps, and the remaining 1% were to get three-step promotions.

The 1,600 teachers in question are senior school teachers in BPS-16, elementary school teachers in BPS-14 and primary school teachers in BPS-9.

Chaudhry said that as per the promotion formula, the 1% teachers that are the most senior will get elevated three steps, followed by two steps for the next 15% and so on.

He said the promotions were necessary because there had been no promotions for the last “many years.”

On the flip side, Rawalpindi Executive District Officer Education Qazi Zahoorul Haq said the cases of some 350 teachers had not been approved because their services files were incomplete.

District officers have been asked to ensure the ACRs of the affected teachers were completed so that their cases may be reviewed, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 3^rd, 2013.