KHYBER: Teaching communities in the public sector educational institutions in Khyber have expressed their reservations about annual profile updates under the Human Resource Information System, conducted by the provincial education directorate.
Requesting anonymity, the teachers said the department concerned had asked them to furnish updated information about their professional experience, recent postings and transfers along with fresh profile photographs, bank account details, annual leave records and the number of their immediate family members.
They argued that the fresh profiling was a wasteof time as the education department was already in possessionof all their personal data and service book, which had repeatedly been updated in recent years.
They said that the exercise was purely a clerical responsibility, while the teachers were unduly dragged into conducting the said exercise despite the presence of sufficientclerical staff in the educational institutions.
They suggested that the officials concerned should develop a system capable of linking teachers’ existing records with the digitisation system, ratherthan repeatedly asking teachers to furnish information that was already available in departmental records.
Sher Zaman Afridi, an official of the Education Department in Bara, contended that uploading fresh personal information for all teachers was a professional requirement, as it contained basic information about each teacher. He said the information was subsequently shared with the directorate, where senior officials could access it whenever required.
‘With the updated information, the background and qualification of a teacher could be accessed and his or her eligibility for any advanced training, promotion, retirement and pension could be determined,’ he stated.
He said that with fresh and updated information, all the professional, official and personal records could be monitored from the main secretariat without being altered by any unauthorised person.
He also dispelled the impression that data collection or profile updating was a time-consuming exercise, insisting that most teachers were accustomed to the process. He added that keeping their profiles updated at all times was in the teachers’ own interest and would ultimately benefit them.