July 29, 2008	Tuesday	Rajab 25, 1429

HYDERABAD, July 28: Sindh Minister for Education Pir Mazharul Haq on Monday directed the district education officers of the province to distribute job offer letters by July 31 among all the candidates who had passed IBA-conducted test for teachers’ jobs in different cadres and make all the closed schools functional after summer vacation.

Presiding over a meeting of the officers of District Education Office Hyderabad at Shahbaz Building on Sunday night, the minister said that the scrutiny committees headed by DCOs concerned with retired educationists and civil society leaders as members had been formed to ensure transparency in distribution of offer letters and avoid any possibility of malpractice.

He claimed politics would not intervene into educational matters and recruitment in education department would be made purely on merit. All the quotas reserved by previous government had been abolished and at present no member of the present coalition government including him had any quota, he added. He said that the department had given target to EDOs in his first meeting held on April 14 and directed them to issue notices to ghost teachers and those who had gone abroad to attend schools after summer vacation else their services would be terminated.

The minister said that despite the fact that he had some reservations over criteria for teachers’ selection, which failed to take into consideration status of education in backward areas, but “we accepted the IBA test as overall it was in the best interest of Education Department and the unemployed youth of the province”.

He informed the meeting that the previous government violated the agreement with World Bank under which it received $100 million by declaring candidates having 40 per cent marks successful instead of 60 per cent marks as provided in the agreement just to accommodate their favourites.

The previous government also accepted applications of under-qualified candidates under monitory motives, which triggered stoppage of World Bank funding, he said.

But now, when this government expressed resolve to recruit teachers purely on merit even the European Union was considering donating 39 million Euro for further strengthening educational system in the province, the minister said.

He said that his ministry would launch inquiry into acceptance of unqualified candidates’ applications and said that the government was keen to revamp and restructure the department to ensure qualitative education and high literacy rate. A broad-based Education Advisory Board was being constituted under this plan, he added.

He said that the ministry was considering upgrading grade of PST post from BPS-9 to 13, JST from BPS-14 to 16 and HST from BPS-15/16 to 17. Order for holding meetings of Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) every month had been issued not only to fill vacant posts but also to ensure promotions of teachers in judicious manner, he said.

He said that he would pay surprise visits and directed the officers to ensure availability of visit book at each school so that the schools’ performance could be recorded by visiting officers, VIPs and opinion makers of the society.

EDO Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah informed the meeting that of 850 candidates who passed IBA test 762 had reported to his management and till date 265 offer letters had been issued to JST teachers and 120 to PST teachers. Of 76 closed schools arrangements had been made for making 73 functional, he said. ‘

The minister, meanwhile, assured the candidates who had passed IBA test for PST/JST but had not received offer letters due to unavailability of vacancies in their respective union councils that the ministry was considering posting them in neighbouring UCs, talukas or districts.

He said that he was in talks with the World Bank to let them post such successful candidates out of specific schools in case vacancies were not available in their respective UCs.