Islamabad : The education ministry has placed its Federal College of Education (FCE) under the administrative and financial control of the Federal Directorate of Education, the regulator for government schools and colleges in the Islamabad Capital Territory.
However, the abrupt yet unexplained move, which came as the proposed upgradation of the teacher training college as a degree-awarding institution struck a responsive chord with the Higher Education Commission, has raised eyebrows. Teachers insist firstly, it's an “unwise” initiative in light of the FDE’s incapacity to manage higher education and secondly, it comes in the wake of an argument between the FCE director (now transferred) and a senior ministry official in a meeting. They firmly believe that sooner or later, it's going to bite the dust.
According to teachers in the know, additional secretary of the education ministry Waseem Ajmal Chaudhry (BPS-21) subjected FCE Director Dr. Samia Rehman Dogar (BPS-20) to verbal abuse in a Zoom virtual meeting on February 23 that the latter attended from Lahore, where she was caring for her mother admitted to the critical care unit of a hospital.
They claimed that Chaudhry ordered 'teaching and technical facilities along with in-house accommodation" for 70 people from an edu-tech business company, Taleemabad, on the FCE premises, but Dr. Samia insisted that firstly, the college's premises didn't have space for such a large number of people and secondly, some portion of the building needed repairs. She even requested the additional secretary to send in his representative to verify her assertion, but Chaudhary took offense at the response and shouted at the woman director. Not only did he utter abusive words but he even threatened her with serious consequences. He even issued a threat to close down the college whose 90 per cent students are women.
The irate Chaudhry left the meeting after ordering the immediate transfer of a senior professor of the college, Associate Professor Dr. Hamid Hasan Mian, to the FDE for posting to schools/colleges. Dr. Hamid used to be the dean (academics), chairman of the BS (Hons) program, supervisor of eight thesis programs, and estate officer of the FCE. The director formally sought the education secretary's intervention for the withdrawal of transfer orders but to no avail.
She also reported the additional secretary to the education and Cabinet secretaries seeking punitive action against him for violating the Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act, 2010, as well as the Civil Servants Efficiency and Discipline Rules, 2020. She even accused Chaudhry of abusing his powers and creating a hostile environment at the workplace for her in the past.