Selecting principals: ‘Competence, not seniority should be criterion’

Teachers propose open competition among all-grades for top slot.

RAWALPINDI: The administrative principle of defining seniority by the number of days a person has been in a job and not by his performance and vigour to contribute has long marred our public sector.

By the same principle, a teacher becomes the head of a college at a time when they are fast approaching retirement and have already lost considerable will and energy to contribute.

Educationists say this defect in the system has badly affected learning environment at colleges. They believe that mere ‘seniority’ thus does not bring competence and leadership, rather it is counterproductive in many cases.

Muhammad Arif, a retired Government MAO College Lahore professor, says the Punjab government took an initiative of recruiting principals directly based on their qualifications, but the government could not sustain the policy.

He said most of the time, senior teachers did not want to become principals due to lack of incentives and political interference.

“Teachers are considered the weakest people in the government machinery who are there to do the bidding of MNAs and MPAs. Competent people thus often avoid taking charge of a college and prefer to maintain a low profile,” he said.

Ghulam Murtaza, a lecturer at the Government Post Graduate Asghar Mall College Rawalpindi, who is also the Teachers Unity Forum Pakistan’s Rawalpindi division president, told The Express Tribune a separate cadre should be established for the purpose, whose core criterion should be competence and capability, not seniority.

“Applications should be invited from teachers in grade-18 and above and the selection procedure should involve written and oral examinations designed to test communication and leadership skills. An independent body should then be given the mandate to select principals,” he said.

Punjab Professors and Lecturers Association General Secretary Syed Tanveer Ahmad Shah said only teachers with administrative skills should be selected for the position and should also undergo a psychological test.

Shah blamed political interference for all that ails the public sector education system in the country.

Rawalpindi Division Director Colleges Professor Humayun Iqbal said the selection for the post of principal is made on seniority cum fitness principle. He denied that there was any political interference in the selection process.

He added that the department invites applications from teachers in specific grades and a committee which includes the provincial higher education secretary selects the college principals “purely on merit”. Political interference is out of the question, he claimed.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 11^th, 2015.