ISLAMABAD, May 23: The Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) has sent a summary to the education ministry seeking amendments in the promotion rules, sources told Dawn.

The summary seeks to deny promotion to the stenographers working in the model section of the directorate to the admin officer.

The accountants and the head clerks together and the stenographers have a quota of 75 and 25 per cent respectively under the promotion rules since 1966.

Sources said according to the Government of Pakistan’s gazette notification of 1993, same rules have been confirmed. Interestingly, they said, if the summary sent by the directorate to the ministry gets approved, there will be two sets of rules for the promotion; one for the model colleges and the other for the rest of the directorate.

They said the accountants and the head clerks being at key posts in the directorate and in education ministry were influencing the high-ups concerned to get these rules amended. They further said the stenographers, who were in minority in the model college’s section, were accusing the accountants and the head clerks of bribing an official in the federal ministry to get the job done.

They said the stenographers had also submitted a number of applications to the FDE Director-General Maqsoodul Hasan and to the officials concerned in the ministry in this regard but to no avail.

Accountants and head clerks contend that stenographer is not a feeding post, therefore, the holder of the office doesn’t have the right to promotion to posts like admin officer.

At present, there are as many as ten posts of admin officer in the model colleges section of which nine are occupied by the accountants and head clerks whereas only one has been occupied by the stenographers.

The sources said the stenographers having 25 per cent share in the quota for promotion would be further sidelined as a result of the proposed amendment in the promotion rules.

When contacted, Prof Mohammad Rafique Tahir, official spokesperson for the FDE said,”I don’t have any information in this regard.”