Negligible progress: Opposition irked over govt’s lack of response to ‘education emergency’

MPAs claim teachers yet to be posted to fill vacancies, NTS testing remains inadequate.

PESHAWAR:

Opposition members in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly on Thursday criticised the provincial government over the process of appointments in the education department.

Gohar Ali Shah Bacha, the Awami National Party lawmaker from Mardan, said several teaching posts remain vacant in Mardan since the past year. He argued even though the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has been in power for the past 10 months and announced an “education emergency”, no appointments have been made in the education department.

Uniform testing

Bacha explained soon after coming into power, the PTI government, promising a new policy, cancelled tests scheduled for school appointments. It asked the National Testing Service (NTS) to test candidates after coming up with a new mechanism.



These candidates paid Rs300 per application for every post in educational institutions. Those who applied in a number of categories were faced with an additional financial burden, said the MPA. The NTS-tested applicants are yet to be posted to any department, he claimed.

He further alleged the number of vacant posts in his constituency was actually higher than the number declared by the education department. He feared favourites would be employed on these undeclared posts.

Abdul Munim Khan, a treasury lawmaker, proposed the government should do away with the NTS type of test as teachers of all categories were being given the same exam. The test should be relevant to the subjects the teachers will be instructing, posited Munim.

Backing Munim, Jamaat-e-Islami MPA Muzaffar Syed said the test should be separate for each subject.

Minister for Information Shah Farman shared that around 14,000 teaching posts were lying vacant in the province and for the first time, the government was going to fill 8,900 of them through a transparent manner. Some of the objections made by the lawmakers may be correct but this will be the first time they were going to employ people on merit, asserted Farman.

However, Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) MPAs took exception to Farman’s remarks as three of the party’s lawmakers took the floor simultaneously to accost him. Later, Deputy Speaker Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi gave the floor to QWP’s Miraj Humayun who accused the education department about being unclear about the province’s needs and called for a complete overhaul of the department.

QWP’s Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli also criticised Farman for failing to satisfy Bacha, the mover of the attention notice.

Mufti Syed Janan and Munawar Khan, both from the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl, also took Farman to task for his comments. However, the minister stood his ground and said the appointment of around 8,900 teachers will be completed by April.

Meanwhile, PTI lawmaker Sardar Soran Singh condemned the attack on Hindu properties in Larkana, Sindh. The session was later adjourned till Tuesday afternoon (today).

Published in The Express Tribune, March 18^th, 2014.