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Qaim seeks ways to ban unionism by teachers

By Our Staff Reporter 2015-10-29
KARACHI: The Sindh government is considering declaring education as an `essential service` to ban union activities of teaching staff to help improve quality of education in schools. This emerged at a meeting held on Wednesday at CM House to review progress of the education department.

Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, who presided over the meeting, expressed his displeasure over the press statements issued by the teachers associations and said their job was to take classes but they were politicking. `Teachers are not supposed to form unions and act as political parties,` he said and directed the chief secretary and the education secretary to suggest to him ways to declare the education sector as essential service so that working of teaching staff in schools could be improved.

Referring to the bogus appointments and promotions, the chief minister directed the chief secretary that `not only the recoveries be made from the people involved in illegal appointments and promotions, but cases must be registered against them.

The meeting was attended , among others, by Senior Minister for Finance Syed Murad Ali Shah, Chief Secretary Siddique Memon, Principal Secretary to CM Alamuddin Bullo and Education Secretary Fazal Pechuho. It was informed about two per cent enrolment ratio since 2002, from 52pc to 54pc in 13 years, the chief minister expressed his dismay over the poor performance and said it must be improved considerably.

Qaim Ali Shah directed the education secretary to follow the case in the Supreme Court, where some teachers had challenged the separation of teaching and manage-ment staffs. `This is most important. Teachers should not be given management; they are meant for teaching and their teaching capabilities be enhanced.

Earlier, the education secretary briefing the chief minister on the performance of the department in meeting the challenge of teachers` attendance, transfers and postings, said that he had developed a biometric system in which the attendance of teaching staff was not only verified but monitored.

`Over 90 per cent data of teachers have been uploaded in the system and it has started working,` he said.

He said that through the biometric system appointments, transfers and promotions were being verified. `In various districts some promotions have been found illegal and necessary actions have been initiated,` said Mr Pechuho and added that this system had also helped trace ghost employees, late comers, habitual absentees and bogus appointments.

The chief minister asked him how much enrolment ratio had improved over the last few years, the secretary said that it was by two per cent. `It was 52 per cent in 2002 and now it stands at 54 per cent,` he said.

The chief secretary said that he had developed close working relationship among the education department, the Accountant General of Sindh and the finance department. `Through this coordination the matter of bogus appointments has come to an end because the AG Sindh do not accept such orders until they are sent to them by the education secretary with his code`.

The chief secretary said that various bogus appointments had been traced out in Sukkur and Matiari, illegal promotions had been found in Qambar-Shadadkot.