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Action under way against illegal appointments in education dept, says minister

By Bhagwandas 2017-04-26
KARACHI: At least 15 people were appointed and various teachers were promoted illegally in Qambar, Larkana; one senior ofEcial has so far been sacked for it with action initiated against others involved, said Sindh Education Minister Jam Mehtab Dahar.

He was responding to queries by legislators during the Question Hour that pertained to the education department in the Sindh Assembly`s session on Tuesday.

Responding to a question by Pakistan Muslim LeagueFunctional legislator Nusrat Abbasi regarding illegal appointments, the minister said that 15 non-teaching staff wereappointed in excess and beyond the sanctioned strength. He added that numerous individual promotion orders of junior teachers, bypassing senior teachers, in violation of authority had also been issued.

He said that disciplinary proceedings have been initiated against Deedar Hussain Jalbani (BPS-19), a former district education officer QambarShahdadkot, in terms of Removal from Service (Special Powers) Sindh Ordinance 2000.

Furthermore, disciplinary action has been taken against delinquent officials for issuing such illegal orders, and salaries of such illegally promoted officials have been stopped and were being recovered from them.

Responding to a question byMuttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) legislator Heer Soho that salary and promotion data be computerised to avoid recurrence of such issues, the minister said that a foolproof monitoring system already existed owing to which these illegalities were checked and culprits had been caught and were being duly punished.

The minister, however, could not respond to the question asked by PML-N legislator Sorath Thebo regarding the slow pace of the inquiry; the crime had occurred in 2013 and action was still being taken.

Responding to a question by MQM legislator Sumeta Syed regarding the amount of additional expenses under Sindh Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill2013, the minister said that the work plan and implementation strategy in this regard were being prepared. The minister, however, could not answer why not even the implementation strategy could not be prepared in four years. He also did not respond to how much money had been spent on this issue.

Degree colleges Responding to a question by Ms Soho regarding existing degree colleges and new degree colleges set up from 2008-13, the minister said that 242 colleges existed earlier and 39 were set up during these five years mentioned. He said that under a policy the government planned to set up a degree college for boys and girls in each tehsil.The minister, however, did not respond to a question by Ms Syed as to why four colleges had been set up in Khairpur and not a single college had been set up in many other districts. She had also inquired about the number of tehsils in Khairpur district where 13 colleges already existed and four new ones had been set up. The minister however, said he did not have access to the revenue record and could not say how many tehsils were in Khairpur district.

In a written reply to a question regarding monitoring of student enrolment in private schools and madressahs during 2012-14, the minister said that the education and literacy department`s Sindh School Monitoring System (SSMS), executed and implemented by director general ofmonitoring and evaluation, has no system or mandate to monitor the number of students enrolled in private schools and madressahs at any time.

In the written reply to a question regarding the amount spent out of Rs1.1 billion to construct and open 25 English-medium schools since 2014, the minister said that the education department planned to build and commission 25 English-medium schools in the province and Rs64 million were released by the finance department in 2013-14 which were utilised.

Hiring of teachers The written reply to a question regarding teachers appointed in different grades from 2013-14 stated that 9,762primary school teachers (BPS9), 5,186 junior school teachers (BPS-14) and 626 high school teachers were appointed during that time.

The break-up shows that the largest number (1,518) of teachers were appointed in Karachi while some other districts where large number of appointments were carried out included Khairpur (1,317 teachers), Larkana (1,194), Tharparkar (1,149), Benazirabad (994), Umerkot (993), Naushehro Feroz(944),and Badin (935).

MQM legislators Zafar Kamali, Dewan Chand Chawla, Saleem Rajput, Qamar Rizvi; PML-F legislator Shaharyar Mahar; PML-N legislator Sorath Thebo; PPP legislator Saira Shahliani, and others also participated.