PESHAWAR: In the ‘last’ cabinet meeting before the dissolution of the provincial assembly, the cash-strapped Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Tuesday approved the upgradation of over 130,000 teachers at the annual cost of several billion rupees.

The cabinet met with Chief Minister Mahmood Khan in the chair and ministers and administrative secretaries in attendance.

Spokesman for the government Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif later told reporters that the cabinet held its last meeting and discussed 23 agenda items.

Accompanying elementary and secondary education minister Shahram Khan Tarakai said the cabinet discussed the proposed upgradation of teachers of various cadres.

“We [government] fulfilled our promise made to primary teachers by upgrading their basic grade from BPS-12 to BPS-14. The initiative will benefit 51,736 teachers across the province,” he said.

Policy on urban forestry, grant for press clubs also approved

The minister also said the grade of BPS-12 teachers would be upgraded to BPS-14 and 18,000 of BPS-14 to BPS-15 from next July. He said the grade BPS-15 of 21,300 schoolteachers would be upgraded to BPS-16.

Mr Tarakai said the cabinet also approved grade upgradation for around 22,000 secondary school teachers from BPS-16 to BPS-17 from the next fiscal year.

He said approval was also granted to the four-tier formula for the teachers serving in BPS-18, 19 and 20, a move that was likely to benefit around 14,000 staff members of educational institutions.

The minister said that the cabinet also approved the upgradation of the CT teachers from BPS-15 to BPS-16.

“Those serving on the CT posts will be upgraded to BPS-16 on July 1, 2023. However, the number of those teachers will be shared later,” he said.

Details available with Dawn show that the upgradation of SSTs and PSTs alone was likely to cost the provincial exchequer over Rs2 billion annually.

Costs associated with up-gradation of CTs and four-tier formula for those in BPS-18 and above were in addition to this.

On the occasion, Mr Saif said the cabinet also approved the one time cash grant of Rs50 million for the Peshawar Press Club, Rs20 million for the Swat Press Club and Rs5 million for the Nowshera Press Club.

Similarly, he said that the cabinet also approved the establishment of the District Committees on the Status of Women (DCSW) and said those committees would be headed by women and would comprise two elected women councillors as members and others, and would work for the well-being of the women besides addressing their problems.

Besides, the cabinet also approved the provincial policy on urban forestry and a grant of Rs5 million as Annual Sustenance Fund for the Umeed Special Education School during the current fiscal.

In addition, the cabinet allowed the transfer of three kanals of land for the establishment of Rescue 1122 station at Mouza Kakki-I in Kakki tehsil of Bannu district saying the facility will help provide prompt relief to the people during natural calamities and emergency situations.

Similarly, the cabinet relaxed the age for 77 assistant sub-inspectors of the police department, who were selected through the Public Service Commission four years ago.

Also, the cabinet decided the provision of Rs180 million supplementary budget for the bulletproofing of 20 vehicles each for sensitive districts of the province.

It approved the Diseases Control Act, 2022, and KP Animals Welfare Act, 2022, to protect the livestock from diseases as well as Rs19.414 billion annual budget of the Pakhtunkhwa Highways Authority for the construction of highways.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2023