Filling the space: Ad hoc teachers to be regularised in K-P, FATA colleges

Around 56,000 applications received for 1,139 vacancies.

PESHAWAR: The provincial chapter of the Public Service Commission has received more than 56,000 applications for around 1,139 vacant posts at different colleges across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

An official from the Higher Education Department (HED) said ad hoc teachers serving at colleges in K-P and Fata would soon be regularised since a request had been sent to the provincial government in this regard. He said the posts have been vacant for quite some time and students have been suffering as a result. Around 300 teachers, including 70 women, had been hired on an ad hoc basis by the colleges. These salaries were paid from their own funds, appropriated for other purposes.



“We received a requisition from the directorate for filling the posts and forwarded it to the Public Service Commission. The commission has advertised the posts, but it takes time since all the candidates have to go through tests and interviews,” said the HED official, requesting anonymity. He said candidates from FATA, Peshawar, Dir, Hazara Division and other southern districts have applied for the posts and it was now up to the Public Service Commission to tackle the shortage.

Government Superior Science College Peshawar (GSSC) also hired new teachers using college funds to overcome their shortage of faculty members, particularly for the recently introduced Bachelor of Science programme.

As of October, officials told The Express Tribune, the size of the student body at GSSC is around 4,000 and 77 posts have been sanctioned for teachers. Nine new lecturers have been hired to teach different subjects, while two others were recruited on an ad hoc basis.

“Apart from the two hired on ad hoc basis, we have hired two other lecturers for the English department using college funds, three for Physics and one each for Computer Science, Geography, Pakistan Studies and Botany,” a GSSC official said, requesting anonymity.

One college teacher was quoted as saying, “You can imagine how miserable the condition of our education is, when you only pay Rs15,000 to a faculty member for teaching students at the college level.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 23^rd, 2013.