KARACHI, Dec 12: The Sindh Education department has issued call letters to a number of applicants, who do not fulfil the age criteria as determined by it for contract-based appointments of lecturers in the colleges of the province.

The written test of the candidates is due on Dec 14 and at present the Karachi-based candidates are being delivered call letters or admit cards under the supervision of EDO (Higher Education). Of the 16,000 candidates having applied for 752 jobs, about 3,900 belonged to Karachi.

A review of the list of candidates selected for written tests at Karachi, gave to understand that 8 to 12 per cent of the candidates did not fall under the age brackets of 21 to 35, as prescribed by the department.

The candidates in the age group from 40 to 53 years, had also applied for lecturers jobs and the department, subsequently, had got prepared their admit cards, said a source.

An academician held that the exercise was in violation of criteria and added that allowing the ineligible candidates to appear in the written test was tantamount to injustice to the deserving candidates.

Different governments in the country had been failing to ensure provision of jobs to qualified persons soon after they acquired degrees, another teacher added.

Talking about the preparation of call letters, an official of the education department said that a list of candidates was prepared as per details pertaining to age, qualification, domicile and NIC, provided by the applicants on a plain paper, and later was sent to the test conducting agency for preparation of admit cards.

Later, photos of candidates were affixed on call letters received from the test conducting agency, and finally was signed by a senior official of the Sindh Education department, after proper scrutiny, added the source, claiming that the EDO office could not be blamed for any discrepancy, as its role in the whole exercise was not more than “a post office.”

In the meantime, candidates continued receiving call letters from 18 different counters, set up at the ground floor of the Civic Centre building on Friday as well. So far, 50 per cent letters had been delivered, while counters would also remain open on Saturday in order to deliver the letters to remaining candidates, an official said.

Call letters could not be delivered to about 100 candidates, as their letters were not prepared by the authorities concerned, said an official at the Civic Centre counters, adding that genuine applicants would not be deprived of their right to appear in the test and they had been advised to collect the call letters on Saturday, or report to the examination centre on Sunday.

Higher Education EDO Prof Rais Alvi said on Friday that candidates should report to the examination centre, National Sports Coaching Centre, at least two hours before the commencement of test, so that they could be guided properly and complaints, if any, could be addressed in time. He said that candidates would be required to sit in different blocks, to be established in marques, named after the subjects.

He said that about 400 college staff was being engaged to conduct the test, including 200 invigilators. Arrangements were being made to ensure peace and security at the examination centre, he added.

About 1,300 males and 2,450 female candidates have applied for jobs at Karachi. A maximum number of 550 applications were received against Islamiat subject, while another 365 in the case of Chemistry, 304 in Political Science, 285 in Education and 277 in Botany.