ISLAMABAD: Owing to the negligence of Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD), the Private Educational Institution Regulatory Authority (PIERA) is working without a permanent head for the last two years.

So far, no serious effort has been made by CADD to appoint the head of the watchdog to monitor hundreds of private schools in the capital.

Sources said in many schools matriculate persons had been hired as teachers while there was no salary structure for them. Many private school owners paid only four to five thousands rupees per month to the teachers.

On the other hand, there is no criterion for the school owners to fix and increase fees.

“In the current scenario, you can say PIERA is a non-functional entity. It can’t be functional without having a permanent head. Our schools are working without patronage,” said Dr Afzal Babar, the president of the Private School Network.

He demanded the government appoint a full-time head of PIERA to promote the private education sector. “This body was tasked to hold training sessions for teachers for their capacity building but nothing has been done so far,” Dr Babar said.

Since 2013, CADD has been running the private schools watchdog on ad hoc basis

The last chairman of PIERA, Atif Kiani, completed his four-year term on June 10, 2013. Since then, CADD has been running the affairs of the institution on an ad hoc basis.

Joint Secretary (admin) CADD Omar Hameed, who worked as the additional in-charge of PEIRA, has now been transferred to the Prime Minister Office. However, he is yet to relinquish the charge.

Meanwhile, a number of bureaucrats have started lobbying for getting the position at PIERA. The sources said Senior Joint Secretary Rukhsana Rehman and Member PIERA Imtiaz Ali Qureshi were the main contenders for the post.

“Omar Hameed has been transferred but he is yet to leave the charge. We will try to appoint his replacement as soon as possible” said Secretary CADD Khalid Hanif.

When asked why CADD was not appointing a permanent head, he said: “I will discuss the matter with the minister on Monday.”

Under the law, the watchdog would have a regular chairman and two members and other staff. However, after the completion of the tenure of its first regular chairman in June 2013, CADD appointed several officers, including Imtiaz Qureshi (member PIERA), Ghayoor Sultana (DG special education)and Omar Hameed, as the acting head of the institution.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2015

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