ISLAMABAD: Unlike the previous Eids, there is no charm for Summaya Bibi, a schoolteacher, who has been waiting for the release of her salary for months.

Ms Summaya is among the 850 daily-wage teaching and non-teaching staff working in the educational institutions under the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) who have not been paid salaries for over year.

Ms Summaya told Dawn that despite repeated promises the FDE did not release their salaries before Eid. The employees blamed the FDE officials for the delay, saying due to their lethargic and non-serious attitude an amount of Rs100 million allocated for the payment of the salaries could not be utilised and lapsed on June 30.

The FDE, which looks after 422 educational institutions in the capital, had to utilise the amount before the completion of the financial year 2014-15 on June 30.

It may be noted that the FDE daily-wage employees have staged several protest demonstrations against the non-payment of their salaries.

A few months ago, the FDE assured them that their salaries would be released shortly but to no avail.

When contacted, Director General FDE Shahnaz Riaz blamed the ministry of finance for the delay, saying it raised several objections on the FDE’s financial matters that led to the lapse of the funds.

“I tried my best to release the salaries of daily-wage employees before Eid but the finance ministry raised several objections,” she said.

Last month, she raised the matter before the Senate standing committee on cabinet secretariat, seeking its help to convince the finance ministry to allow the FDE to release the salaries of the daily wagers. “I had sufficient funds to pay the salaries to the daily-wage employees but the finance ministry kept on raising objections,” she told the committee.

In response, the committee directed her to write to the secretary finance. However, sources said the FDE could not properly pursue the case.

The sources said during the last a few years the FDE made hundreds of illegal appointments. They said the area education officers while compiling a list of the daily-wage employees for the release of their salaries ignored hundreds of genuine cases and replaced them with fake employees.

“To make the list on merit, we took several months inspecting all the schools,” said a senior official of the FDE. He said after a complete scrutiny process the FDE finalised the 850 cases.

On the other hand, several daily-wage employees told Dawn that they had been running from pillar to post to get their salaries but every time the FDE officials gave them new date.

“What is our fault, we have been discharging our duties with dedication and our record is available in the schools. But the bureaucrats created several hurdles in our way and finally we are going to celebrate Eid without salaries,” said a clerk working in a school at Bhara Kahu.

It may be noted that a majority of the employees have worked for the last a couple of years. Initially, they started working as volunteers but later were hired as daily-wage employees.

The FDE director general added that they would ensure the early release of the salaries. “Our allocated budget has lapsed but we are trying to utilise other funds for paying the salaries. I hope we will clear all the dues next month,” she said.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play