LAYYAH, Jan 19: The district education officer (female) has allegedly extorted thousands from teachers and girl students in the name audit of the Tawaana Pakistan Programme and sports fund.

The provincial government had launched the World Bank-funded Tawaana Pakistan Programme in 100 schools in Layyah to enhance girl students’ enrolment.

Under the programme, each girl student was being provided five litre cooking oil every month.

Recently, District Education Officer Jameela Kazmi ordered all the schools to pay Rs300 each, saying the money would be paid to the officials auditing the Tawaana programme. The officer also ordered the teachers to charge Rs2 from each girl student as sports fund. Approximately 100,000 girls are enrolled in Layyah and in this way, the officer collected Rs200,000 in all.

Sources said Ms Kazmi had ordered the collection of the sport fund at a meeting of education officials this month. The meeting was attended by Layyah deputy education officer Saeeda Khanum and Karor Lal Essan deputy district education officer Sabira.

The meeting had also decided that chief guests at district annual sports day and tehsil annual sports day would be given gifts worth Rs30,000 and Rs15,000.

Educationist professor Nawaz Siddiqui told Dawn that such a wide scale embezzlement in a public department showed inefficiency of public representatives.

Mr Siddiqui quoted the termination a Sheikhupura district education officer in recent months on the complaint of a MPA as she had embezzled the salaries of English teachers. He said that public representatives in Layyah had yet to take such an action.

When the district education officer was approached for comments, she denied the allegations.

Executive district officer (Education) Hafiz Abdul Wahid, however, admitted that he had received certain calls and verbal complaints regarding the allegations but would take action after receiving a written complaint.