Teachers face denial of right to choose better job opportunities

Islamabad: Teachers serving at the educational institutions run by the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) are facing denial of their basic right to move from one occupation to another through non-provision of Departmental Permission Certificate (DPC) to apply for another job.

According to an official source, the employees of ministries, divisions and all other departments are allowed to apply for the posts announced by the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC). However in case of teachers, different restrictions are imposed on their career advancements which seems discrimination and to be harmful for the productivity of the workers.

It is an undeniable fact that occupational mobility helps increase efficiency and productivity when employees move to occupations for which they are suited the best. Qasim Raza Shah, a lecturer at Islamabad Model Postgraduate College H-8 who is the victim said that he was desirous to change his job and wanted to join office management group as section officer.

He needed a Departmental Permission Certificate (DPC) from the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) to apply to the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) but his department did not allow him and hence DPC was not issued to him. Under the International labour organization declaration, every country gives rights to every citizen to move freely from one occupation to another office without discrimination

as regards employment, remuneration and other working conditions.

Another lecturer on the condition of anonymity told APP that no teacher wanted to be stuck in a dead-end job, regardless of its compensation and benefits. Teachers should be given the freedom to choose their career that would help them achieve better outcomes in their profession. Accused the relevant authorities of operating double standards, the lecturer said that Directors at FDE were allowed to join any other department on deputation but teachers were kept bound to stay in the same department.

Instead of restricting teachers occupational mobility, the authorities should give teachers the liberty to change their profession instead of adopting the career-blocking strategy.

An Associate Professor at a local college on the condition of anonymity said, Everybody has the right for upward career mobility by which an employee uses his/her skill sets and strength of mind to achieve new career goals and more demanding job opportunities. The opportunities for upward movement on the career path in the education department are pretty low.

The four-tier promotion structure of teachers is very old and rotten which has not been revised, the Associate Professor said. The officers at Pak secretariat draw 150% executive allowance and 20 pc special allowances which are not given to teachers which is why the newly inducted teachers begin to look for new jobs elsewhere after staying at the education department for some time, the Associate Professor lamented.