PESHAWAR: Unprecedented interference of Pakistan Tahreek-i-Insaf members of the provincial assembly in the affairs of Elementary and Secondary Education (E&SE) Department has been hampering the posting of competent officers on merit, according to officials.

The posts of district education officers and important positions in the seven boards of intermediate and secondary education, schools and training institutions are usually filled with those recommended by the MPAs instead of the ones transferred on merit by the department.

The MPAs could be seen visiting the offices in the provincial secretariat of the education department to manage posting of their own people on the desired posts, the officials in education department told Dawn.

A recent example in this regard is the posting of deputy director administration, University of Malakand (UoM) Chakdara, Mohammad Naseem Khan as controller of the Peshawar Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education. Naseem is the son of PTI MPA Mohammad Azam Khan.

Minister says lawmakers have to be in touch with the dept to resolve public issues

The sources said that the E&SE Department, provincial establishment department and the education board had opposed the posting of Mr Naseem as he was neither an academician nor he had the experience of conducting examinations.

They said Mr Naseem was an administrative officer at UoM having no academic experience while the controller of examinations should be a competent academician. The controller is responsible for making all arrangements for holding the intermediate and matriculation examinations, including paper setting and checking, deputing invigilators at examination halls and controlling the secrecy section of the education board.

They said the controller should have sufficient knowledge of curriculum, students learning outcome, evaluation of test items, etc.

The officials said that when the education and establishment departments opposed the posting of Mr Naseem as controller, his father MPA Mohammad Azam along with other MPAs put pressure on the chief minister and education minister and finally got him posted as controller.

“The chief minister has approved the posting of Mr Naseem as controller of Peshawar board a few days ago though the education department and Peshawar board had termed him unfit for the post,” the officials said.

In another case, on the intervention of special assistant to chief minister on anti-corruption establishment Shafiullah, the education department was forced to transfer a female economics teacher, who had hardly served on that post for three months, to accommodate his recommended teacher.

After her transfer, the education department placed her at the disposal of directorate of education for further posting, which later posted her on a post of librarian as there was no vacant post of the economics subject, the officials said.

They said that such postings and transfers had created unrest among the officials of education department and teachers.

The sources said influence of the lawmakers was so strong that the education department could not appoint any district education officer without the consent of MPAs of the concerned district.

For instance, the officials said, one of the DEOs Riaz Swati, who always topped the monthly district ranking of DEOs, was never posted in any important district rather he had been serving in the far-off districts.

They said if Swati had repeatedly been on top in the district ranking why he was not posted in Peshawar, Abbottabad or Mardan. Before his retirement recently, the officials said Mr Swati was DEO (female) Torghar district. They said that there were only 64 girls’ schools in the entire district.

Mr Swati was not acceptable to the authorities at the helm of affairs in the PTI government because he had never compromised on merit and rules.

When contacted, E&SE minister Akbar Ayub Khan justified the MPAs interference in affairs of the education department, saying, “We are public representatives and we have to be in touch with the education department.”

He said the voters had many issues with the education department due to which the MPAs would interfere to resolve them.

About the posting of UoM’s deputy director as controller in Peshawar board, the minister said it had been done by the chief minister who was controlling authority of the boards.

“We can’t deprive a person from a post for being a son of an MPA,” he added.

Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2020