A district management group (DMG) officer was given charge as the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) director-general (DG) on Monday.
After failing to find a ‘suitable’ education professional, the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) appointed made bureaucrat Amir Ashraf Khawaja the DG of the FDE, which looks after 424 schools and colleges in the Islamabad Capital Territory.
Earlier, CADD’s Additional Secretary Qaiser Majeed had filled the seat on additional charge basis.
The FDE has been going through a multitude of crises in the last couple of years as several DGs were appointed and relived at short intervals, some for barely a few weeks. These stopgap arrangements took a toll on students and overall education activities in the capital’s educational institutes.
Lingering issues from regularisation of daily-wagers and contractual employees, to absorption of deputationists, to promotions of teachers and a teacher shortage have been hallmarks of the FDE. Teachers often make beeline to the FDE and CADD seeking resolution of such issues, which in turn also takes a toll on overall education quality.
“Instead of facilitating teachers, we are made to suffer and are sometimes humiliated by bureaucrats at the CADD,” a college professor told The Express Tribune.
Previously, former joint education adviser Rafiqe Tahir, additional secretary Haji Akbar Chheena and joint secretary Hafiz Sher Ali, all bureaucrats, also ran the FDE as acting heads, with each one leaving new problems behind when they left. During their tenures, red-tapism, misuse of funds in education development projects and promotion issues of teachers and non-teaching staff were rife. Most of those issues still linger.
“We hope the issues will be resolved after the arrival of a permanent DG. This is what we were awaiting for the last few months,” said Majeed.
Also on Monday, sacked federal government and model college employees held another sit-in at the FDE, demanding a notification for their induction as regular employees. They also shouted slogans against FDE and CADD officials. At the same time, students from Islamabad Model School for Girls Gokina also came to the FDE, complaining about a shortage of teachers at their school. The students said that they had no English or mathematics teachers in their school. The students, their parents and other locals accompanying them said 28 teaching posts were sanctioned for their school, but only eight were showing up on campus. They said that the rest of the teachers had managed to get transferred to schools in urban areas. They demanded that local teachers serving as daily-wagers should be hired to fill the vacant posts.
“I have ordered the adjustment of regular teachers in the school and formulated a committee to solve other issues facing 591 staffers,” Majeed said.
CADD has been lackadaisical in resolving education issues as six secretaries have been appointed in barely one year. Cabinet Secretary Babar Yaqoob Fateh Mohammad currently occupies the post on additional charge.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 25th, 2014.
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