Shifting stance: Abolition of evening shift put on halt, again

Capital Administration and Development Division to implement plan in phases.


Riazul Haq March 31, 2014
Capital Administration and Development Division to implement plan in phases. PHOTO: FILE

ISLAMABAD: Succumbing to pressure from parents and colleges, the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) has shelved a plan to abolish evening shifts in model colleges (MC).

Recently, a Parent-Teacher Associations’ meeting of 20 MCs vowed to strongly oppose sending students to federal government (FG) schools following the abolishment of evening shifts.

“There were certain administrative issues in implementation of the decision, which is why we have put it aside,” said FDE Director General Prof Akhtar Mehmood Malik.



Besides, according to an FG audit report from 2011-12, the management of Islamabad’s public colleges evening schools section for boys and girls collected Rs18.93 million in fees, whereas a Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) notification from 2005 declared that no tuition fee will be charged from students of classes I through X.

Similarly, after the passage of Article 25-A in November 2012 that bound the state to provide free-and-compulsory education to children aged between 5-16, CADD was preparing to stop charging fees from evening shift students.

When the staff of MCs came to know that under the proposed mechanism, the students would be sent to FG schools where the strength was low, they questioned the status of the teachers left behind. “Who will head whom? Issues of salary and status of teachers forced us not to touch this plan for the time being,” Malik said.

He was of the view that they were opting for a phased abolition. “We have immediately stopped new admissions for the evening shift. That way, in a couple of years, the whole issue will be resolved.”

Sabeena Khanum, the mother of a fourth grader at Islamabad College for Girls (ICG) G-6/3, appreciated the decision, saying that children will now have the chance to study in the morning.



MCs Central Academic Staff Association President Rashid Khan claimed the plan was floated a few days ago before MCs’ staff. It remains to be seen how they would accommodate all the students in the morning shift.

Another ICG teacher claimed that the new option would exacerbate admissions issue instead of addressing them.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 31st, 2014.

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