April 27, 2008	Sunday	Rabi-us-Sani 20, 1429

ISLAMABAD, April 26: The executive council of the Federal Government College Teachers Association has demanded abolition of the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE).

The association alleged that the SRO-225 of the education ministry that served as a constitution of the FDE had constantly been violated in the past through political appointments.

Presided over by Prof Qasim Masud, a meeting of the executive body here on Saturday also criticised the alleged violation of seniority rules in the appointments of director colleges.

The meeting was attended by teachers from all the boys and girls colleges falling in the FG city-A areas including F-10/4 Degree College; Margalla Girls College; Postgraduate Girls College, F-7/2; Postgraduate College, H-8; Degree College H-9; Girls College, G-10/4; FG Commerce College; Sihala Degree College; Girls Commerce College, F-8; and Humak Degree College.

The executive committee constituted a sub-committee that has immediately started work on developing a working paper on the lacunas in the federal education system and the problems faced by the teachers of Islamabad region. The paper would be presented to Federal Minister for Education Ahsan Iqbal, and would contain proposals for the upgradation of the syllabi of the federal education and improving the wages and service structures of teachers.

The association will also meet the education minister on May 30 and brief him on various issues being faced by the federal education system.

“The working paper would be ready very soon,” Prof Masud told Dawn.

He said the meeting had also criticised promotion of three teachers from Basic Pay Scale (BPS) 19 to 20 a couple of weeks back. He alleged that three senior teachers of the FG College F- 10/4 - Principal Mohammed Azhar, Prof Abdul Latif and Prof Kazim Hussain - had been ignored in the recent promotion.

Prof Masud said the working paper would contain a proposal for the introduction of education services structure on the lines of Central Superior Services (CSS). According to this proposal, all college teachers should have to be appointed through competitive examinations like that of CSS. All the college teachers should be given one year’s training immediately after their appointment in order to improve their communication skills. He said the working paper would demand refresher courses and trainings on latest challenges and issues for teachers after every five years.

He said another basic demand was the introduction of the time scale. According to this system, college teachers should be promoted from BPS-17 to 18 after completion of their five-year services. After 12 years of service, the teachers should be promoted from BPS-18 to 19, while after 17 years from BPS-19 to 20 and so on.