LAHORE: In a major change, the Punjab government on Tuesday decided to fill senior administrative positions in the school education department (SED) through a merit-based appointment process instead of selection.

Under the new criteria, a search committees will be appointed to seek applications from the candidates for the posts of directors public instruction (DPI) (SE/ EE), chief executive officers (CEOs), district education officers (DEOs) and deputy district education officers (DDEOs) for all district education authorities.

The SED also got approval of the new appointment criteria and process from Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz and its cabinet.

SED Secretary Dr Ehtsham Anwar told Dawn that it’s a historic step and claimed that it was first time in the history of the country that these posts would be filled through a merit-based transparent process.

He said the initiative aimed at providing equal opportunities to all aspiring teachers, ensuring a fair and rigorous selection process and added that any capable teacher could vie for such high positions.

The SED secretary said the department was focused on IT skills too as a prerequisite for these positions and lamented that in this era of digital learning, coding, artificial intelligence and social media, most of education officers could not even turn on a computer.

Dr Anwar said no reform agenda of any given government in the field of education could succeed until the right persons were posted at the right positions. He said the abyss in which the public education system had fallen today could be attributed to posting of incompetent and corrupt yet well-connected individuals in the leadership positions.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2024