No suitable candidate found for post of BISEs’ chairmen

LAHORE: The Punjab Higher Education Department (HED) has revised the eligibility criteria for candidates for the post of chairman at five Boards of Intermediate & Secondary Education (BISEs) of the province after it failed to find suitable candidates as per the previous criteria.

The department has cut down the remaining service requirement from 5 years to three and a half years (this will raise age bar from 55 to 56 and a half year) besides allowing those who earlier had availed two tenures (of 2 years each) as chairman at any of the examination boards.

The summary in this regard has been moved to the chief minister for approval following which the Higher Education Department (HED) will re-advertise the posts of chairman at five BISEs including Gujranwala, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Sahiwal and Sargodha.

The HED had advertised the posts in March this year according to which Punjab domiciled civil servants serving in BS-20 and above with age up to 55 years were eligible to apply. The candidates, who had availed one tenure as BISE chairmen, were eligible to apply while those who had availed two tenures (one each of three years) were ineligible to apply.

Sources in the department said around two dozen candidates had applied but only four of them were eligible. “They were interviewed but none of them was found suitable,” said an official, seeking anonymity.

The official said traditionally civil servants serving in schools or colleges vied for the post of Chairman Board and there was dearth of officers from school or college cadre serving in BS-20. “If there are some in BS-20 from school or college side, their remaining service is less than four years,” the official said. He added it was therefore the remaining service period was cut down from five years to three and a half years.

“This is a sad reality that CSP officers or even those from PMS, etc. don’t vie for such posts and this is despite the fact we now offer MP-I scale to a chairman BISE,” said another official of the department. He said under the Management Position (MP-I) Chairman of the Board would be offered pay package of Rs370,000 per month.

The official said as soon as the department received approval from the chief minister, advertisement would be placed to invite applications. He added other requirements such as seven years of administrative experience and MA/MSc qualification would remain intact.