ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training is all set to appoint a regular director general of the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE), which oversees the affairs of Islamabad’s 423 schools and colleges, as shortlisted candidates have been interviewed for the position.

The Ministry of Finance has approved two new grade 20 posts in the FDE.

The post of FDE director general has been vacant since December 2016. Since then, the office of the director general has been run under ad hoc arrangements by bringing in one bureaucrat after another to hold additional charge of the post.

Currently, Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (Peira) Chairperson Zia Batool is looking after the affairs of the FDE on an additional charge.

But the office will soon receive a regular director general who will be appointed after a competitive process.

Finance ministry approves two additional grade 20 posts in directorate

In response to advertisements for the post, the ministry has received 94 applications of which 15 candidates have been shortlisted.

Sources said the shortlisted candidates were interviewed a few days ago. A panel of the three best candidates will be sent to the Prime Minister’s Office so one can be selected for a three year posting against an MP scale.

They said Minister for Federal Education Shafqat Mahmood has been supervising the recruitment process, as it was his initiative to appoint a director general to address various issues facing the FDE, such as those of daily-wage employees, the recruitment of teachers, education quality, overdue repairs and maintenance at schools and colleges, and running school transport in most educations.

Most such vehicles are parked due to an absence of funding and staff. A total of 200 buses were provided to schools and colleges under the Prime Minister’s Education Reforms Programme in 2017-18, but most institutions were unable to run these buses without funding and staff.

The director general post used to be a grade 20 position that government officials, FDE employees and teachers could be appointed to by the government without considering merit.

The criteria was recently changed and the post was upgraded to grade 21.

The post will now be filled through a competitive process for three years against an MP scale.

Sources said an independently appointed director general would be in a better position to make independent decisions and the government will not be able to remove the official before the three-year tenure is completed.

Sources in the education ministry said the finance ministry recently approved two new posts for deputy directors general in the FDE.

“The interview process for the shortlisted candidates has been completed, now we are going to scrutinise the process to pick the three best candidates to be sent to the Prime Minister’s Office. Hopefully, by the end of this month, we will have a new director general,” a senior ministry officer said.

He added that two posts for deputy directors general in the FDE have also been approved by the finance ministry.

“The FDE is a very important office. Through this office, we can lead several initiatives in the federal capital, that’s why we have been paying a special focus to strengthen it,” the officer said.

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2020