Teachers look to cabinet for regularisation

Islamabad : Though distressed to see their strenuous bids, including dialogue, boycott of duty and agitation, to claim service regularisation fall flat during the last many months, the daily-wage teachers of Islamabad’s government schools and colleges see a glimmer of hope in the last days of the current government.

With the federal cabinet slated to have its last meeting on next Tuesday (May 29), they’re holding on to the fresh promise of the top bosses of the Capital Administration and Development Division, which oversees their educational institutions through the Federal Directorate of Education, that the supreme executive body will certainly regularise their services by consenting to their summary.

“We met the CADD minister (Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry) on May 25, and got the fresh assurance that the next cabinet meeting will approve the (division’s) summary on our regularisation.

We keep our fingers crossed for a positive development,” said Ihsan Sikandari of the Young Teachers Association, which represents these daily wagers.

Earlier this week, the CADD minister got two top officials of the division, including secretary Azhar Ali Chaudhry and additional secretary Jamal Yousaf, transferred for persistently procrastinating action on his directions to forward the summary on the temps’ regularisation to the cabinet for formal approval.

The two bureaucrats, who were removed after they opted to go to long leave over the matter, are understood to have blocked the sought-after move for considering it to be against the law and fearing legal action over it in the days ahead.

Immediately after eliminating the ‘two hurdles’, the minister, whose National Assembly constituency, the rural Islamabad, is inhabited by many daily wagers, got postal services secretary Dr Saqib Aziz and Mathar Niaz Rana posted as his division’s secretary and additional secretary and tasked with sending that summary to the cabinet.

Fearing adverse impact on his campaign for imminent elections in case of further delay on the matter, he publicly claims that the prime minister has promised approval to the summary shortly after it is put up to him.

According to an insider, the CADD summary proposes regular job for 1,329 daily-wage and contractual employees of Islamabad’s educational institutions. Among them, 628 work in BPS-1 to BPS-15 and the rest in BPS-16 and above.

In 2011, the then PPP government had regularised the services of 1,220 such employees, including 816 of BPS-1 to BPS-15 and 404 of BPS-16 and above as recommended by the then minister Khursheed Shah-led special committee. However, the 1,329 others okayed by that panel didn’t get regular job due to unavailability of posts.

Employed by the FDE eight years ago, these temps have met the relevant government representatives, officials, lawmakers and minister, boycotted classes and even examination duty in the last many months to claim permanent job, but to no avail. Also driven from pillar to post to get salary, they demand posting to the vacant positions in schools and colleges and creation of new posts for the rest.