September 12, 2008	Friday	Ramazan 11, 1429

KARACHI, Sept 11: At a time when there is a shortage of around 1,100 college teachers throughout the province, 650 teachers who had passed their examination from the Sindh Public Service Commission and whose district-wise appointment schedule was notified in May are still awaiting their posting as a summary about their duty joining is reportedly pending with the Sindh chief minister for approval.

Similarly, another summary concerning the appointment of principals of over 25 colleges of the city is also lying at the CM House for approval.

Sources told Dawn that on the one hand, there is a shortage of 1,100 college teachers, especially of English, mathematics, physics and economics subjects, in the province and, on the other, posts of principals in over 25 colleges of the city are lying vacant.

The colleges where the posts of principals are lying vacant include Delhi Government College, PECHS Boys College, National Government College (both morning and evening shifts). At present, senior teachers of Grade 18 are performing duties as in-charge principals at these colleges whereas a Grade 19 teacher is appointed as a college principal.

The sources said that although more that two months had passed since over 50 senior-most teachers of the colleges were interviewed by the provincial secretary of education for filling the posts of principals, the department has not yet notified the names of the selected principals, and as such all those who are currently working as in-charge principals are discharging their duties half-heartedly.

Speaking about the 650 teachers whose appointment schedule was notified in May and who had even received their appointment letters after completing all formalities, including medical tests, the sources said that all these teachers were eager to join their posts.

But since the summary of their appointment, which was sent by the provincial education department to the Sindh chief minister for his approval, was still pending in the CM House, they were not being allowed to join their duties despite the new academic session for Class XII students had begun on Aug 1 across the province.

“The dearth of college teachers could be gauged from the fact that the provincial education department, despite opening five new colleges in the city, has not been able to appoint teachers for these colleges,” the sources said, adding that as an alternative arrangement the directorate-general of colleges had provided teachers in these new colleges on a detailment basis in violation of its own rules that no teacher would be allowed to work on detailment.

The trend of posting teachers on a detailment basis will cause more shortage of teachers at those colleges from where they were being displaced.

When the director-general of colleges, Prof Rafique Ahmed Siddiqui, was asked about the reason for the delay in the matter of appointment of principals, he said a summary about their appointment was first sent to the provincial senior education minister for his approval and then to the Sindh minister for his final approval. “And it will take time,” he said.

Coaching centres

A proposal aimed at checking the mushroom growth of coaching centres and bringing them under the tax net is actively being considered by senior education officials.

According to sources, if the proposal was agreed upon, it would be submitted to the Sindh education secretary for his perusal before getting it approved from the provincial minister for education.

Discussing the merits of the proposal, senior education officers said the idea behind the proposal was to make it mandatory for all coaching centres to get themselves registered with the directorate-general of colleges, Sindh, so that their working could be monitored in a proper manner.

They argued that when it was mandatory for a beauty parlor to get itself registered with the Sindh Board of Technical Education, then there was no reason why the coaching centres which had spread in every nook and cranny of the city should remain unregistered.

They said once it was made mandatory upon the coaching centres to seek registration with the provincial directorate-general (colleges) office, the officials of the directorate would, on the one hand, be able to check their mushroom growth and, on the other, would regulate their functioning and ensure that their timings did not clash with that of government colleges, especially those of the morning shifts.

Admitting that there was a general trend that a number of students belonging to government colleges usually preferred to attend coaching centers during their college timings, they said, such students usually failed to comply with the condition of attending 75 per cent classes at their respective colleges although it was mandatory for appearing in their board examinations.

Private colleges

The director-general (colleges), Sindh, Prof Rafique Ahmed Siddiqui, has reportedly moved a summary to the provincial education department with a request to hand over the control of all private colleges of the province to the directorate-general (colleges), Sindh.

According to sources, the DG (colleges) in his summary has stated that before setting up of the district local governments, both the government and private colleges used to be under the control of regional directorate of colleges but after the introduction of the devolution plan, the control of all the government and private colleges up to the intermediate level was given under the administrative control of the city district governments.

However, when all government intermediate colleges of the province had once again been given under the administrative control of the provincial education department, private colleges of the province did not come under the purview of the directorate-general (colleges) as the authority to register and monitor their functioning was with the provincial directorate of private institutions, he said.

Elaborating in his summary, the DG said that since all government intermediate colleges now came under the administrative control of the provincial education department, the task of registering and monitoring the functioning of private colleges should also be assigned to the office of provincial directorate-general of colleges.