SAHIWAL: It seems no bureaucrat is willing to serve as the provincial secretary of the Higher Education Department (HED) for a long period as in the past 30 months, 10 secretaries of grade 20 were posted in the department but only for a few weeks.

On an average, a secretary stayed at the post for not more than 90 days. Interestingly, the last secretary, retired Capt Muhammad Mahmood remained at the post only for 48 hours. Mr Mahmood was replaced by Momin Agha on Feb 9. The last 30 months saw the following secretaries in the office of the HED secretery: Sajid Zafar Dall, Sara Saeed, Zafar Iqbal, Khalid Saleem, Barrister Nabeela A Awan, retired Capt Naseem Nawaz, Irfan Ali and Aslam Kambhoo. Half of them had additional charge of other departments.

Hafiz Khaliq, Punjab Professors and Lecturers Association (PPLA) president, says with such ad hocism how anyone can run a singular education policy in the province. “This disrupts the continuity of policies in the higher education sector because each bureaucrat has their own vision of running education,” he says.

Mustafa, PPLA Lahore general secretary, says an HED secretary has to deal with more than 22,000 employees of grade 17 onwards and such rapids transferred hindered the department progress.

This ‘discontinuity’ creates many problems for the PPLA which is biggest elected stakeholder in the HED.

Hafiz Khaliq demanded that a secretary be appointed for a three-year term so that the officer gets understanding of the education department.

He said the secretary enjoyed administrative powers in the provincial bureaucracy set up and their vision affected the particular department.

“Such rapid postings and transfers badly affect the PPLA and other stakeholders who are continually working to improve working conditions of their community,” he said.

He demanded that the chief minister appoint a full term HED secretary for the continuity of policies in higher education.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2019