28 principals of Pak-Turk schools, colleges replaced

LAHORE: The management of the 28 Pak-Turk schools Wednesday replaced the Turkish principals with local senior teachers and vice principals of the schools across the country.

The Board of Directors is, however, intact and overseeing day-to-day affairs of its educational institutions across the country while Turkish teachers would continue teaching as the board counts them among the strong points of the education system.

Reportedly the move of replacing the heads was to thwart any likely move of ‘handing over of the control of the school system to any organisation by the government.’ Sources in the school management said the decision to replace the Turkish nationals was purely internal. They added the Turkish teachers would continue working on the teaching posts.

A chain of 28 schools and colleges is functioning under the Pak-Turk Education Foundation International Schools and Colleges in Pakistan in different cities including Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Multan, Karachi, Hyderabad, Khairpur, Jamshoro and Quetta. The education system, from pre-school to ‘A’ levels, has a student body of around 11,000 while there are 1,500 staffers of which 150 are Turkish.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Erdogan government wants closure of the education system for its alleged links with the US-based cleric, Fethullah Gulen, who is blamed for the recent coup attempt.

A senior government official seeking anonymity said the closure of the Pak-Turk Schools and Colleges was not possible since fate of thousands of students could not be risked. He, however, added a mechanism might be evolved to run the schools through local and incumbent Turkish government-led set-up. “However nothing has been finalised so far”, he added.

Punjab School Education Minister Rana Mashhood said the Punjab government would only come into action after instructions from the federal government. He categorically said no policy decision was yet conveyed to the provincial government vis-à-vis fate of the Pak-Turk Education System. To a question, the minister said any decision about the Pak-Turk schools and colleges would only be taken keeping in view the student body.

About the rumours vis-à-vis extension in the ongoing summer vacation, Rana Mashhood said no decision was yet taken in this regard and added the educational institutions would reopen as per schedule announced earlier.