KARACHI, Aug 28: Following lifting of ban on recruitment, advertisements for the recruitment of contract lecturers have been published in newspapers.

This was stated by Education Minister Irfanullah Khan Marwat during question hour in the Sindh Assembly session on Thursday.

Responding to the question from Marvi Mazhar, he said that advertisements for primary school teachers would also be published soon.

The minister made it clear that the appointments would be made on contract basis and the applicants would have to undergo written tests to be conducted by a private organization.

Mr Marwat informed the House that while recruiting primary teachers, the government would not consider the age limit in respect of woman candidates and would allow some concession as well with regard to their educational qualification.

Similarly, he clarified, there would be no quota, except for the urban/rural quota, in appointments.

Replying to a supplementary question by Syed Qaim Ali Shah that why was the recruitment being made through a private organization and not the Sindh Public Service Commission, Mr Marwat said that the Commission had been given requisition for lecturers some 18 months back, but the it could not arrange publication of advertisement due to other pressing work. Besides, these vacancies are being filled on contract basis and the organization which will conduct tests had also conducted a similar exercise in respect of appointments in the Middle School Project, he added.

He told the House that this institution would charge Rs45 per applicant appearing in the written test. The IBA was also approached, he said, but it had quoted Rs540 per applicant.

Replying to another question, Mr Marwat said that about 2,700 schools were lying closed in the province at present. He, however, could not say whether these schools had their SNEs or not.

He told a questioner that these schools were closed because of the non-availability of teachers as they were not willing to be posted in remote areas.

Jam Tamachi expressed concern over deteriorating standard of education in the province owing to political interference in the process of teachers’ recruitment.

Conceding this perception, Mr Marwat cited the example of a union council where 22 schools were opened with an enrolment of 10 to 12 students in a class. Similarly, in another village there have been nine schools, each located less than 100 yards from each other.

He told the questioner that some 17 government girls primary schools were not functioning in taluka Dadu alone on account of the non-availability of local teachers and also for being located in remote areas.

Answering a question, the minister admitted illegal appointments having been made by certain EDOs of Education in the province and revealed that 164 such cases were unearthed in Jacobabad and 114 in Dadu. He said investigations into such irregularities in other districts was also under way.

Mr Marwat recalled that the EDOs concerned had been suspended by chief minister and all such appointments cancelled.

He told the questioner that the suspended EDOs had not been reinstated.