Dr Ali Kharal front runner for top FDE post

Islamabad

Senior educationist, Dr Ali Ahmad Kharal, has emerged as the front runner for the top Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) post.

Earlier this month, the apex court had ordered fresh appointment to the position of the FDE director general from within the organisation in line with the relevant rules.

The order was issued on a petition filed by the former occupant of the office, Dr Shahnaz Anjum Riaz, who pleaded that the incumbent, Moinuddin Ahmad Wani, was a BPS-19 customs officer and therefore, his appointment to the BPS-20 post of the FDE director general without promotion was unlawful.

Now, the race for the coveted position has entered the final round.

With the Capital Administration and Development Authority, which oversees the FDE, finalising a list of three candidates for the prime minister to choose the next FDE chief from, Dr Ali Ahmad Kharal, the principal at the Islamabad Model College for Boys, G-10/4, has come out as the hot favourite for the post.

He is reported to have good contacts in the current PML-N-led political dispensation.

Among other contenders are Samar Zaffar, the principal at the Federal Government College of Home Economics and Management Sciences, F-7/2, and Dr Shahnaz Anjum Riaz, the National Institute of Science and Technical Education deputy director general.

However, the chance of Dr Shahnaz, a former FDE chief, clinching the post is slim as she was twice removed from the office reportedly on the orders of the prime minister’s office over the ‘growing infighting in and litigation against the organisation, and her failure to ensure resolution of the issues of the city’s government educational institutions’, as an insider put it.

She had reclaimed the post on the Supreme Court orders.

However, this time around, the apex court in a decision on her petition against Mohiuddin Wani’s appointment ordered fresh appointment of the FDE director general from within the organisation.

The insiders say of late, the joint secretary Salman Qayyum Khan-led CADD committee tasked with recommending three names for the vacant post interviewed seven FDE officials, including Dr Kharal, Samar Zaffar, Dr Shahnaz, Federal Government School No 14 principal Allah Yar, Islamabad Model College for Girls principal Professor Qudsia Fatima and senior educationists Muhammad Bilal and Qamarun Nisa.

They all are BPS-20 officers.  Some FDE officials fear the change of the CADD secretary on Friday could prompt the review of the list.

“As the new secretary has just assumed the office, there is a likelihood of him sending back the summary to the relevant officials for revision,” an official said.

The FDE overseen by the CADD has seen a dozen director generals over the last five years adversely affecting its performance, especially the management of more than 400 government schools and colleges in the capital city.