ISLAMABAD: As the post of the Federal Directorate of Education’s director general remained vacant for more than a year following the removal of Dr Ikram Malik ostensibly due to his opposition to a plan to hand over a public plot to a private firm, a parliamentary panel on Wednesday asked the education ministry to appoint the FDE chief without further delay.

In July last year, FDE head Dr Malik was removed following his opposition to handing over a 21-kanal plot worth Rs 20 billion, meant for a public school to a private firm under the public-private partnership. The deal proceeded in his absence but the matter is in the high court.

The National Assembly Standing Committee on Federal Education met at the headquarters of the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, with MNA Aslam Ghumman in the chair. Besides other agenda items, the committee expressed concerns over an inordinate delay in the appointment of the FDE chief and the FBISE head. The FDE is a supervisory body, which regulates 431 educational institutions across Islamabad.

Education Secretary Mohyuddin Ahmad Wani told the committee that after a competitive process, a summary comprising three names had been forwarded to the Prime Minister’s Office for the appointment of the DG. He hoped that the BPS-21 appointment would be made by the federal government soon.

Education secretary says summary sent to PM’s Office for appointment; ministry also asked to appoint FBISE chairman

The summary moved by the ministry lists Noreen Ayaz, assistant professor at the Institute of Business Administration in Karachi, Dr Shahid Razzaq, adviser to the engineering development board and assistant professor at the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, and Dr Tariq Mehmood, dean and associate professor at the Health Service Academy, as probable candidates for the coveted post.Likewise, the FBISE chairman position has been vacant since May this year. The ministry started the recruitment process earlier this year but it has been facing delays. The standing committee directed the ministry to expedite the process.

According to a statement issued after the meeting, the education ministry was asked to address the shortages of furniture and computers in schools and streamline the teacher recruitment process. The panel also asked the ministry to enforce a robust monitoring system for effective oversight.

The Ministry of Finance was also asked to allocate funds for improving facilities in Islamabad’s rural schools. The committee also suggested strengthening the role of the school management committees (SMCs), ensuring regular training for teachers and head teachers, and developing a detailed action plan to address education gaps with necessary financial support from the Ministry of Finance. To enhance the educational experience, projects such as libraries, IT rooms, smart classrooms, and meal programmes should be implemented across urban and rural schools, the statement added.

Similarly, the committee requested updates on out-of-school children, details of NGOs collaborating with the education ministry, and incidents of drug supply in educational institutions.

It is relevant to note that the education ministry got approved a public sector development project worth Rs700 million to reduce the number of out-of-school children in Islamabad.

In the previous financial year, Rs115 million was approved for the said scheme while for the ongoing financial year, the government has allocated Rs300 million for this project.

Sources said that the ministry also doled out millions of rupees to a number of private schools for enrolling children who are out of school. Recently, the ministry through the private educational institutions authority gave a handsome amount to a number of schools for the purpose, said a source.

“As part of the first instalment in this financial year, we gave Rs40 million to 14 private schools, besides other schools,” said an official of the education ministry. Sources said the ministry would hold a meeting soon to review the progress of this project.

Meanwhile, during the committee meeting, the committee directed the Higher Education Commission to provide details about illegal campuses and e-education facilities in remote areas. The committee also got a briefing about FBISE, its functions, and performance.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2024