ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Federal Education is expecting an early appointment of the Director General of Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) by the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC).

The FDE is the regulatory body which oversees affairs of over 430 schools and colleges of Islamabad. However, it is being run on ad hoc basis since July 2023. Besides other factors, litigation also contributed for this delay.

Recently, after vacation of the stay, the ministry formulated rules for appointment of the DG before sending the post to FPSC.

“Case was sent to the FPSC for regular recruitment after approval from all concerned and in line with the directions of the court,” said an officer of the education ministry. He said: “FPSC has been requested to take it up on priority.”

The post fell vacant in July 2023 when Dr Ikram Ali Malik was sidelined in a suspicious manner after his opposition to the education ministry’s some questionable initiatives. So, the ministry got him removed from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for his “poor performance.”

Sources said that when the PM came to know about the stance taken by Dr Malik, he rectified his pervious decision and appointed him as the chairperson of Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE).

Last year, after a considerable delay, the education ministry finalised the process for hiring the FDE head and after competitive process and interviews a list of three shortlisted candidates was sent to the Prime Minister Office for appointment of the DG. Meanwhile, a college principal filed a petition in IHC raising questions on the appointment process.

“Now, all issues including court is settled and soon FPSC will appoint new DG,” said an official.

New BS programmes at colleges

Meanwhile, the FDE is all set to start in six new BS programmes in several colleges. According to FDE, BS Information Technology Programme will be started in ICB G-6/3, BS English in IMCG I-8/3, BS Statistics in IMCB F-10/4, BS Environmental Sciences in IMPC H-8, BS Islamic Studies at IMCG Bhara Kahu and BS Urdu IMCG Humak.

These programmes are affiliated with Quaid-i-Azam University.

An official of the ministry said that this week QAU teams will inspect the colleges for affiliation. “We are hopeful we will get affiliation and we will start offering admission within few weeks,” he said.

It is relevant to note here that many FDE male and female colleges have already been offering BS in many subjects. According to QAU affiliation criteria, for BS programmes each college must have at least one PhD holder in the relevant subject and a minimum of six faculty members with MS/MPhil qualification.

Some college teachers have been claiming that lacking the qualified teachers for new programmes, FDE shifted some teachers on “temporary duty” from other colleges to secure the affiliation by misleading QAU and HEC.

They said that a teacher of H-9 College, who was serving on temporary duty in IMCG G-10, was shifted to ICB G-6/3 for starting BS Information Technology Programme. On the other hand, when an officer of FDE was contacted, he defended this move. “We did nothing wrong, QAU and HEC has strict affiliation criteria and we completed all formalities,” he said.

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2025