MULTAN: About one months ago, the Government Degree College, Mian Channu, welcomed new teacher Muhammad Naseem to fill in a vacant post of chemistry lecturer (grade 19). The development, however, offered no respite to the students of intermediate and graduation classes with science subjects for Mr Naseem is the lecturer of education subject. Ironically, the college does not have even a single student of education.

He was transferred to the Mian Channu college from the Abdul Hakeem college, a small town in Khanewal district.

How can an education subject teacher fill in a chemistry teacher’s post?

The education department does so by converting the sanctioned seat of a certain subject into other subject only to accommodate the teachers on the recommendations of political people. The practice is rampant in the province, depriving the students of right teacher for their subjects.

Dawn has learned the Mian Channu seat was downgraded and converted into other subject on the recommendation of a ruling party MPA.

Principal Tahir Mehmood said that the chemistry seat was converted into education by the education secretary. The nearby Government Girls’ Degree College of Mian Channu is facing the similar situation as here only intermediate subject teachers are available. Other teachers have managed posting in big cities by converting their seats into other subjects, consequently seats of important subjects have been vacant in the college for months.

Sources said the situation in Government Degree College of Chichawatni was also not different where the seats of Urdu teachers have been converted into other subjects. Two mass communication lecturers grabbed postings in a Sahiwal college at the place of other teachers. The college does not offer BS mass communication classes.

An official in the Directorate of Colleges of Multan told Dawn on the condition of anonymity that no college in Multan division had been spared of downgrading and conversion of seats only to accommodate blue-eyed teachers.

He said that most of the teachers wanted to be posted in big cities for better lifestyle and tuition services. The practice of conversion of seats impacted the studies of the students of small cities and towns where most of the seats are vacant.

“Besides Khanewal, colleges in Shujabad and Jalalpurpirwala are also facing the shortage of teaching staff as teachers have got transferred themselves to Multan by managing the conversion of vacant posts in the colleges.”

He said the directorate had nothing to do with the conversion of subjects as such developments are being looking after by the Punjab Higher Education Department through a centralised system.

He said that over 5,000 teaching vacancies have been vacant for several months. A few months back, the HED wrote to the Punjab Public Service Commission to issue advertisements to fill the vacant posts but the process had yet to begin.

He said that the government was going to hire 5,000 college teaching internees (CITs) to overcome the shortage of the teachers. Under the temporary arrangement, CITs will be hired from October 1, 2019 to April 30, 2020. College principals have been asked to hire the CITs for their respective colleges through walk-in interviews. Of 1,099 posts of male teachers in four districts of Multan division, 244 posts are vacant. Similarly, the number of sanctioned posts of female teacher in the division is 900, and of them 300 posts are vacant. The division has 70 colleges of both male and female, of which 26 are in Multan district, 11 in Lodhran, 17 in Vehari and 15 in Khanewal.

Higher Education Secretary Dr Raheel Siddiqi says the department has stopped the conversion of posts three weeks ago.Sources at the Multan directorate, however, refuted his statement and said the practice has been on.

A Punjab Professors and Lecturers Association (PPLA) official in Lahore said the practice picked up the pace during the PTI rule creating “faculty imbalance” in colleges in Punjab, mainly in the south region. He said according to the PPLA data, 600 transfers had been made in the last one year. He said seats of science, English and Urdu subjects had been converted into other subjects to accommodate the teachers of lesser-sought subjects.

He blamed the special secretary education and the minister for the mess, adding that when HED additional secretary Usman Khalid tried to resist the practice, he was made an officer on special duty.

Punjab Higher Education Minister Raja Yasir Humayun Sarfraz told Dawn there was no political intervention in the transfer and posting of college teachers. He said several teachers had not been posted in their native town, tehsile, district and division as they were recruited by the PPSC and could be posted in any district.

The minister said they were working on a plan to start division, district and tehsil- wise recruitments. He rejected the reports of intervention of MPAs and MNAs in transfer and posting matters, saying that he would cancel political transfers and postings on the basis of conversion of seats.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2019