KARACHI, Sept 22: The Sindh government on Monday decided to defer implementation of an order of the provincial education minister, encroaching upon the authority of the city government.

Sources in the government said that the minister’s directive with regard to lifting of ban on transfer of students on hardship, which appeared as a direct interference in the working of the city government or its constituted bodies, had been held in abeyance, in order to avoid clash of authorities and any confusion in the ongoing process of admissions to first year classes in the city colleges and higher secondary schools.

The Centralized Admission Committee of the city government was shocked to learn that the education minister, by relaxing the ban on students’ transfers, wanted principals and other officials to accommodate the students seeking transfer from one college to another on hardship grounds.

The city Nazim and others in the city government, including the principals and the college teachers, are of the view that the latest directive to the education secretary from the minister was against the spirit and objective of the Centralized Admission Policy, which was introduced after approval of the Sindh education department in 2000, and continuing since then despite devolution of the government.

Under the CAP almost all eligible applicants have been placed in the colleges and higher secondary schools, adhering strictly to merit, according to the capacity of educational institutions, while policy of not allowing transfer from one college to other, either in Class XI or XII, also continued this year, said the admission prospectus issued by the city government.

A source in the education department said that the education secretary, after receiving directives from the chief secretary and the education minister on Monday evening informed the EDO (colleges) Prof Mohammad Rais Alvi that his department was not in process of implementing the ban lifting order, as the minister had desired to review it.

Interestingly, only a couple of months back, the minister was all out for the CAP. In a message for the prospectus, he observed that the admission policy, ever since it was implemented, not only ensured merit and fair play but also eradicated hooliganism from the educational institutions.

The department sources said that perhaps the minister had been wrongly advised by his aides and deputies, who allegedly wanted to accommodate their near and dear ones at educational institutions of their choices, irrespective of merit.

Sources in the city government said that in addition to his press statements, the Nazim Naimatullah Khan had also contacted the high ups on the issue and expressed his reservations.

Subsequently, he had been informed that the CAP committee would continue working as per 2003 admission policy, while the ban on transfer of students would also remain effective.

It was further learnt that a delegation of Sindh Professors and Lecturers’ Association, at a meeting with the minister, also discussed the letter issued in a haste, without consulting the CAP committee or college principals.

We have informed the minister that we would oppose the idea of lifting ban on transfers, as we believe it was not only the matter of defying the merit but also to put in trouble the colleges’ administration, which was already short of staff, said a SPLA member.