PESHAWAR: Varsity ad brings into focus plight of contract teachers
Bureau Report
PESHAWAR, Dec 7: An advertisement placed in the media by a university, seeking applications from teachers for possible appointment to one of its constituent institutions, has irked people already working there on contractual basis.
“The university has advertised 37 posts for appointing ‘permanent’ teachers to the Islamia Collegiate School (ICS). Tests and interviews will be held later this month,” said a source.
According to the sources, 44 teachers have been working for the school for the past 10 to 18 years on contracts. They have so far been denied regular positions.
Five branches of the ICS were set up in 1913. It currently has a faculty of 150 and has about 3,500 students on its rolls.
“Contract teachers work with devotion but are paid a salary of only Rs5,000 a month,” said the source. Criticising the university’s decision to advertise for ‘regular’ appointments at the school, they said that a few months ago the vice-chancellor had regularised the appointment of hundreds of contract employees working for different departments and faculties of the varsity.
They said the move to appoint new teachers would render teachers working on contracts jobless. According to them, most contract teachers were not eligible to apply for employment elsewhere because they had already crossed the government-prescribed age limit.
When contacted, an affected teacher said the school’s administration was also in favour of regularising the appointment of contract teachers. He said that despite repeated requests, the university had not taken any action in this regard.
It may be mentioned that the school has been functioning without a full-time principal since February. The school is supposed to be looked after by the principal of the Islamia College, but he is too busy to manage the affairs at the school properly.
The school’s principal retired on July 31, 2006, but he was given an extension until January 31, 2007. Applications were invited for the coveted position in November 2006.
The sources said the vice-chancellor was empowered to appoint one of the three senior teachers as principal for three years. But it remains to be seen if such a step would be taken by the vice-chancellor.
