Nomination of PEIRA chief for six-month course flayed

Islamabad: There are fears the watchdog for private education in Islamabad,
Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (PEIRA), which is already taking flak for being inefficient, will suffer more after the nomination of its acting chief for a six months long professional course.

The Establishment Division has named Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) joint secretary Musaddaq Ahmad Khan, who is currently acting as a stand-in for the permanent PEIRA chairman, for the National Security and War Course 2016-17 at the National Defence University, Islamabad.

The CADD has yet to announce his replacement at the PEIRA.

The development comes at a time when one of the two PEIRA members, Imtiaz Qureshi managing matters on academics of private schools, has been out of the country for one month.

The self-financing PEIRA, which regulates over 1,000 private schools in the capital city, has seen change of guard seven times during the last three years.

However, it has been struggling to deliver the goods for being without a permanent top boss.

Dr Afzal Babur, president of PSN, which represents Islamabad’s low-cost private schools, feared the nomination of the acting PEIRA chief for a six-month
long course would virtually cripple the working of
the already inefficient authority.

He said the CADD would do away with its policy of ad-hocism towards private education in Islamabad and ensure the early appointment of a permanent chairman to the PEIRA.