KARACHI, Oct 29: The education department of the city government has decided to collect data pertaining to appointment of teaching and other non-teaching staff in private schools.

Sources in the EDO Schools office said in view of complaints received from teachers and other staff, now private schools have been directed to furnish letters regarding appointment of teachers in their institutions.

Under the Sindh Private Educational Institutions (Regulation and Control) Ordinance 2001, the Sindh education department and other authorities have been authorized to frame rules to address the grievances of teachers and other non-teaching staff at private schools.

The provision available with the school registration authority was not sufficient to approach directly the private schools or penalize them in case any dispute was reported to it by teachers.

According to a Sindh government notification issued on Aug 19, 2002, the school registration authority on receipt of a complaint or information regarding dispute arising between an institution and parents or guardian of a student of the institution or between an institution and its teachers or other staff members shall constitute an enquiry committee, comprising such number of members from civil society and officers of education department as the authority deems fit.

The committee shall enquire into the dispute and submit its findings along with its recommendations to the registering authority within 30 days from date of order issued to it.

EDO Schools Anwar Ahmed Zai said more than 40,000 teaching and non-teaching staff employed at about 3,000 private schools in the city, despite provisions, did not find it at ease when it came to their job security.

“We do receive complaints from staff round the year, particularly at time close to summer vacation at schools, that management had ousted some of the staff without any obvious reason, he added and mentioned that now the decision to ask the private school managements to submit copies of appointment letters with regard to teaching and non-teaching staff at the earliest would surely be a tool with the school registering authority to call any management to clarify their position in case they were found violating even their own agreement with their staff.

He said the school registering authority did have the rules and other provisions in the shape of private school management Act-2001, but there were no means to discourage the excesses observed in the case of staff.

School teachers are removed despite their long service only as management wants to do so which causes a sense of insecurity among the staff. Sometimes teachers were transferred from one branch of school to another in the distant area, with the objective that the staff would quit the job at his or her own while the management would not be questioned at all.

Mr Zai said now the cases would be scrutinized in the light of service conditions stated in the appointment letters of the staff. The process would also make the management to pay salary to their staff as per structure mentioned in the letter of appointment, he added.

He said that school managements found violating the terms and conditions in the appointment letters would face an action by the registering authority while on the other hand in case of serious violations, the government could appoint a board of governors for such schools.

To a question, he said private schools should also maintain a general registration book of students enrolled with them in proper shape, making no amendments at their own in data once recorded in the book as it was a property of the government.

Such registers contain information about students, their age, address and educational institutions which go a long way in the career of students.

He also said school maintaining primary and secondary classes as separate entity should have to acquire separate registration of two schools, i.e. one for primary section and another for secondary school.