ISLAMABAD: Charged with supervising 423 schools and colleges in the federal capital, the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) has been run on ad hoc basis for a year and a half.

The post of its director general has been vacant since Dec 2016 after the retirement of Dr Shahnaz Riaz and no effort has been made since for appointing a regular DG.

Successive additional charge holders have been running the directorate’s affairs and in April 2017, additional charge was given to Private Educational Institution Regulatory Authority Chairman Hasnat Qureshi, who has been running the directorate since.

The education sector of the capital was till recently under the administrative control of the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) and not the education ministry.

The PTI-led government abolished CADD and decided to place FDE under the Federal Education and Professional Training Ministry.

“It is unfortunate that the director general’ post has been vacant at the FDE for so long. An appointment should be made on this important position without further delay,” said Malik Ameer Khan, president Federal Government Teachers’ Association.

He said he hoped the decision to place FDE under the education ministry will mean the problems facing the education sector and teachers of Islamabad will be addressed.

The PML-N led government had in March 2016 created the post of executive director in grade 21 for supervising FDE but no appointment has been made yet on that post.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2018