ISLAMABAD: Three girls colleges in Islamabad are being run without permanent staff for the last over one decade.

Islamabad Model College for Girls (IMCG) I-8/3, IMCG I-14/3 and IMCG Humak are being run with borrowed staff from other colleges.

The colleges were inaugurated years ago without own staff and budget.

These colleges fall under the administrative control of the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE).

An official of the FDE said IMCG I-8/3 started functioning in 2009 and was still without allocation of government budget and staff.

He said the Planning Commission had recommended hiring 64 teaching and non-teaching staff for the college but no budget ID had been created as yet.

A borrowed employee of one of the colleges said: “We are facing severe shortage of teaching and non-teaching staff. Few teachers have been borrowed from IMCG I-10/4 and a few are daily wagers.

“The borrowed staff has to pay frequent visits to their parent colleges to resolve salaries and other issues,” he said, adding shortage of teaching and non-teaching staff was affecting academic activities and quality of education.

Similarly, IMCG I-14/3 started classes in various disciplines in the academic session 2012-13 where five teachers from other colleges have been sent temporarily.

Sources said Planning Commission had recommended 40 teaching and 32 non-teaching posts for IMCG I-14/3 on Oct 1, 2018, but no budget ID had been created so far.

IMCG Humak is also facing shortage of teachers.

The FDE official said Planning Commission had recommended filling 91 posts of teaching and non-teaching staff in this college.

He said the college was inaugurated in 2007 and got permanent staff but in 2015 it was expanded that caused shortage of teachers.

A representative of Federal Government College Teachers Association said: “These college are a glaring example of the sorry state of affairs in the federal education sector. Our association has long been pointing out that shortage of teachers is a big hurdle to ensure quality education.” He said the required staff should be appointed in the colleges.

Sources said that besides these colleges, several schools which were inaugurated years ago were also being run on ad hoc basis.

An FDE director said in the past no serious effort was made to fill posts in the colleges. However, he said, the current management had been pursuing the case and due to its efforts the Planning Commission had already approved posts of teaching and non-teaching staff.

He said the FDE was also taking up the matter with the finance ministry.

“Hopefully, soon we will get the go-ahead for starting recruitment process in the colleges and schools,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2021