ISLAMABAD, June 7: “Good teachers produce good students” used to be the guiding principle in recruiting them but no more - not for want of good teachers but for want of meritocracy.

At least that is how teachers aspiring for gazetted posts of lecturer in federal schools and colleges in the city feel. They allege that competing candidates need good connections more than good academic grades to land a BPS-16 or above job.

This “painful transformation” they noticed in the implementation of the government's decision to regularise services of hundreds of long-neglected lecturers and Junior Lady Teachers (JLTs) by the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE). While the decision promised to relieve them of job insecurity and economic pressures, it was implemented in a manner that allowed induction of influence-wielding outsiders.

And the outsiders included the children and other relatives of the principals and vice principals of government colleges in the city.

While announcing the regularisation of the services of all teachers in mid 2011, the FDE simultaneously had imposed a ban on new recruitment. Yet some high-ups in the education department openly violated the ban. They seized the regularisation process as an opportunity, knowing that the new teachers they were inducting irregularly will recreate the problem of regularisation after some years.

Dawn has learnt that daughter of Prof Anwar Ali Khan, Principal Islamabad College for Boys (ICB), Noor Ali Khan, was inducted as Lecturer (BPS-17) on daily-wage basis in Islamabad College for Girls (ICG) only last month.

Similarly, Ms Ammara, daughter of vice principal of IMCB F-8/4, Sami Uddin, was inducted as lecturer at ICG in May this year.

Before her, the daughter of Iqbal Azhar, vice principal of Islamabad Model College for Boys (IMCB) I-10/1, had been appointed as lecturer at ICG. A daughter-in-law of vice principal of ICB, G-6/3, Dr Hafiz Anwar joined as Junior Lady Teacher (BPS-16) in the evening shift at the same college.

Joint Secretary Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) Noor Zaman's wife Halima Noor Zaman was appointed Junior Lady Teacher (BPS-16) in the ICG in November 2011.

All these appointments were made months after the FDE had clearly instructed all principals in writing “not to hire the services of any teacher on daily wages” in order to stop such teachers from claiming regularisation as a right later.

The latest regularisation resulted from a petition filed by the teachers who had been working in federal government institutions for decades, in the Supreme Court for getting their services regularised.

On the directives of the court, the FDE offered the petitioners regularisation on one-candidate-against-one-seat formula, once the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) clears them. Some of the unlucky ones among them were declared “fit for appointment against lower grade” and others “unfit for service”.

A few months later, the government formed a Regularisation Committee, led by federal minister Khurshid Shah. It announced in 2011 that services of all teachers working on contract or daily-wage, who had completed one-year continuous service, would be regularised on executive order.

Hundreds of lecturers and JLTs were subsequently regularised in their respective grades without appearing before the FPSC or any other forum. That left those FPSC had either rejected or offered lower grade jobs by the commission high and dry. “It is strange that those who had been serving the education department for decades were sent to FPSC for scrutiny while teachers of ‘royal blood’ were regularised through executive order,” said a lady lecturer of more than ten years bitter at FPSC declaring her fit for the lower JLT slot.

“This was clear nepotism, double standards and misinterpretation of Supreme Court's directives,” she said.

But the people she alluded to stood their grounds. CADD Joint Secretary Noor Zaman found nothing odd in his wife being appointed a JLT. “She is qualified and met the merit,” he said, adding that “qualified and capable persons can be appointed against any post.

Principal Anwar Ali Khan insisted he never did anything against the rules, always tried to strengthen the education system and followed the policies of FDE.

Secretary CADD, Imtiaz Inayat Elahi told Dawn that the teachers were regularised on the orders of cabinet committee. “It was the decision of a superior body and CADD could not go against it,” he said.

Chairperson Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat and CADD, Kalsoom Perveen, said the budget debate was keeping her busy and would take up the matter after the budget is passed.

“We have to ensure quality of education and only a competent teacher can maintain quality,” she told Dawn. “Students are committing suicides just because their teachers are not able to handle them. When we want to build a house, we hire the best contractor. How can we leave the building of the future of the nation in incompetent hands”?