KARACHI, July 29: Results for the recruitment of 600 teachers for the 179 recently-established middle schools have been cancelled on account of procedural irregularities, officials said here on Tuesday.

Candidates had recently appeared in tests for recruitment of junior and high school as well as oriental language teachers in addition to physical training instructors in grades between BPS- 14 and BPS-16.

Initially, the Sindh Education Department had decided to appoint 1,100 qualified teachers, under the Sindh Middle School Project, which had been initiated in 1994. The project is funded by the Asian Development Bank.

Under the project, a number of primary schools have been upgraded to the status of elementary school, while 179 middle schools have been established in the 16 defunct districts of Sindh, including Karachi.

Over the years, 282 junior and 143 high school teachers were recruited through the Sindh Public Service Commission.

However, all vacancies under the project could not be filled within the specified period because of the constraint of time, as the SPSC could not carry out the required process, an MSP official said.

Special permissions, he said, had been granted by the then Sindh governor a few year ago to fill the remaining posts by bypassing the Commission and taking other measures for appointment.

About 10,000 applications were received against the remaining posts. After holding a written test through a management study college, about 6,000 candidates had been short-listed for interviews. The interviews had not yet commenced when results of written tests were cancelled by the authorities.

Some 16 committees, comprising senior officials of the Sindh Education department, representatives of the MSP, EDOs and District Officers, Education, were formed to interview and finalize prospective candidates.

The committees were scheduled to finish their work in connection with appointment of 36 high school teachers, 255 junior school teachers, 179 oriental language teachers and 179 physical training instructors within a month. According to the schedule, letters to selected candidates were to be delivered prior to the termination of summer vacations and resumption of academic activities at schools in August.

MSP Manager Mrs Talat Jaskani said that education planners, associated with the project, had tried to focus on the development of post-primary level education in the province, especially in the rural and undeveloped districts of Sindh.

Some middle schools for boys have been made functional through transfers of teachers from other public schools but middle schools for girls could not be reactivated because of the unavailability of women teachers, she added.

A large number of middle schools had been established in the rural and undeveloped areas in Larkana, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Sukkur, Ghotki, Khairpur, Nawab Shah, Naushehro Feroz, Hyderabad, Thatta, Badin, Mirpurkhas, Sanghar, Tharparkar, Dadu and Karachi districts, she said.

Of the 179 middle schools, 19 girl and boys’ middle schools had been established in Karachi, 42 schools in Hyderabad division, 34 schools in the MirpurKhas division, 31 schools in Larkana division while rest of the middle schools had been set up in the Sukkur division and Tharpakar, she said, adding that some of these educational institutions had already started functioning.

Project authorities had earlier proposed to appoint 358 other persons, including peons and sweepers were to be appointed in addition to the 1,100 teachers to be appointed under the programme.

The Sindh government, in collaboration with the ADB, had started another project to provide stipends to girl students, studying in the sixth,

seventh and eighth classes as well girls studying in HSC parts I and II.

During the past four years, the Middle School Project is estimated to benefit 16,485 girls, out of a target set to provide stipends to 23,850 students while 6,000 students would be given stipends during the current year.

The Sindh government has already distributed over Rs48.302 million among these students with an individual student receiving Rs1,470 per year while 500 women teachers of middle schools were paid Rs3,412 annually under their faculty-strengthening programme.—PPI