FDE delegates powers to officials for better functioning

Islamabad:Acting director general of the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) Zia Batool has delegated various powers to the director, deputy director, area education officers and heads of educational institutions in Islamabad Capital Territory to facilitate staff for the early disposal of matters.

Previously, two directors oversaw staff affairs causing long delays in the processing of cases at the FDE, the regulator for Islamabad’s 424 government schools and colleges with more than 15,000 staff members both teaching and non-teaching ones.

Teachers welcomed the development and said it would streamline FDE affairs to resolve pending issues and help employees perform duties diligently. Members of the Federal Government Head Association, Federal Government Teachers Association and Non-Teaching Association said they hoped that the other issues would be resolved.

They met the DG and told her that under the four-tier promotion formula, prescribed ratio 1:15:34:50 percentage of the teachers in BPS 20, 19, 18, 17, respectively. They, however, said the up-gradation of teachers in BPS-17 in 2011 had 'jumbled up' the symmetry of their service structure, which should be rectified for which the revision of four-tier formula was an important activity.

The visitors also complained that teachers were deprived of their right despite lapse of four years. They said the promotion cases had been held since long beside controversial recruitment rules designed without the consultation of stakeholders blocked the promotion of existing staff.

The association members complained that most teachers hardly got promotion due to the disordered service structure, so they reached the age of superannuation after remaining stuck in the same grade.

They said heads of educational institutions had always been neglected in the FDE policy formulation and had never been empowered as all powers were held by two directors contrary to the organisational structural, which delayed the processing of cases, including pension ones.

The DG said the streamlining of the FDE working, a good service structure and decentralization of power were crucial to improve the performance of the organisation and employees. She promised the resolution of issues of teaching and non-teaching staff.