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Schoolteachers inducted under new policy face uncertainty

By Mohammad Ashfaq 2015-11-03
PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa elementary and secondary education department has failed to malce a law and rules to `regularise` the recruitment of over 12,000 teachers appointed to government schools across the province under a new policy.

Now, the accountant general office has warned the education department should fulfil the basic requirements for the appointment i.e. proper legislation and formulation of rules otherwise payment of salary to such teachers will be stopped from December 2015, sources told Dawn on Monday.

Around two years ago, the PTIled provincial government hadreplaced the teacher recruitment policy with the `school-based appointment policy`.

The move was meant to address multiple problems on the transfers of teachers and ensure presence of teachers in schools.

Under the school-based appointment policy, fresh recruitment in government schools were made nontransferable suggesting a teacher appointed to a school will spend entire career in the same school.

Until now since then, over 12,000 teachers have been appointed to the government schools on contractual basis across the province, while the recruitment of thousands more is in process.

According to the AG office`s reservations made in a letter to the education department, the appointments under the school-based policy fall neither in the adhoc category of nor in the contractual one.

Through its letter, the AG Office defines the adhoc appointments as `As per Para 4 of the government of KPK Regulatory Act 2011, the government may through the compe-tent authority made appointments on merit against the vacant posts, falling within the purview of the Public Service Commission in a district from the domicile holders of that district for a period of one year or till the arrival of the recommendees of commission whichever is earlier,` reveals the AG office letter.

Regarding the contract appointments, the AG office in its letter argued that under the contractual appointment policy framed in 2002, the appointments could be made for initial three years without pension.

The letter adds, `keeping in view the cited policies the appointments orders of your (education) department neither fall under the category of ad hoc nor contract.

Most teachers appointed under the changed recruitment policy were from the district cadre including class teachers, primary school teachers, Arabic teachers and theology teachers.

Such appointments couldn`t be made on contractual or adhoc basis, they said.

The sources said only those postscould be filled on adhoc and contractual basis which fell in the purview of the Public Service Commission.

A senior official in the education department told Dawn that the department had drafted a proposed law to legalise appointments made under the school-based appointment policy. He said the law department has raised certain observations on the proposed law.

When contacted, E&SE minister Mohammad Atif said legislation for the school-based teacher appointments was not an issue.

He said the education department was in contact with the finance and law departments over the formulation of a law on the matter.

`Besides fresh recruitment under the school-based appointment policy, we also wants to make some arrangements to make the postings of old employees too nontransferable,` he said.

The minister said the department was trying to find permanent solution to the problems on teacher transfers.