Promotion-pace disparity perturbs ICT teachers

Islamabad

Teachers in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) have long been paid according to old 4-tier system introduced in the early 1990s, says a press release issued by Federal Government College Teachers Association.

Educational institutions under Capital Administration & Development Division (CADD) are faced with a chaotic service structure that has minimised the level of motivation among the college teachers. Even the provinces like Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Punjab have improved the promotion formulae of their college teachers in 2012, the release said.

Unfortunately, the said formula of promotion structure when compared to the Punjab and KP is further frustrating and leaves hardly any hope. 

The following table shows the comparative picture of the 4-tier promotion formula implemented in the colleges of Islamabad Capital Territory, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab:

This clearly shows that in the upper slot (professor BPS-20), the posts reserved for ICT are only 1% whereas, 5% and 3% posts are reserved for (professor BPS-20) in KPK and Punjab provinces, respectively. 

Similarly in the slot of associate professors BPS-19, Federal Education Department keeps only 15% posts, whereas provinces of KPK and Punjab reserve 20% and 19% for this grade category. 

In the lower slots like assistant professors and lecturers ICT allocates maximum percentage which literally means there is no need to rise rather be fallen forever. This is why many college teachers have hardly one promotion throughout their long career.

Last but not the least of discrimination is the bitter fact that the promotion ladder ends at BPS-20 there is no opportunity for teachers to get promotion in BPS-21 and BPS-22 like others. Among all the provinces KPK show the fastest promotion rate of the teachers. 

A teacher on the condition of anonymity said, "Slow-paced promotion structure is the main reason of flight of teachers to the other lucrative departments. A single college i.e IMCB H-8 lost 4 good teachers due to pursuit of better pay structure for the last 3 years and a few more have applied to institutes of national importance for permanent jobs or at least deputation. At least nine teachers have quit FDE over the past one-and-a-half years, many of them leaving for a better pay package."

Professor Manzar Zafar Kazmi, president of Federal Government College Teachers Association (FGCTA) has pointed out that Islamabad should have been in the leading position and a role model in this national cause but due to negligence of the authorities it is lagging behind and ICT college teachers are the worst sufferers. 

FGCTA has voiced enough of its fear of an exodus of able teachers to other lucrative departments and abroad. Sadly, government continues to discriminate against teachers by not offering identical promotion structure all over the country despite the fact they perform identical work functions. He has reiterated that this is the time to overhaul their promotion structure. 

Professor Mehdi Hussain told that the promotion-pace disparity by service for teachers was wider certainly due to indifferent attitude of the government.

Female teachers of the junior sections of model colleges are worst suffers as there is no promotion formula for them. With the growing consumerism and corporate culture a traditional social order is disappearing; teachers, poets, intellectuals can hardly enjoy the social applause of the past nor would these abreactions work in this age where a long list of public utility bills are to paid on specific deadlines without fail.