‘Govt not selling institutions, nor terminating teachers’
ISLAMABAD:January 18: The Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) Chairman Engineer Qamarul Islam Raja has rejected the concerns raised by teacher community of Punjab by saying that the government is neither selling any educational institution nor terminating the services of government teachers.
The PEF Chairman Engineer Qamarul Islam Raja has rejected the concerns raised by the teacher community on the decision of Punjab government to handover the control of 1,000 schools to PEF. While backing the government’s decision, he has told the Daily Times that government is not going to privatise the schools and will not sell their properties but it will only hand over the control of these schools to PEF which is also an allied institution of provincial government and already managing 6,000 schools across the province.
The chairman further said that it is also a misconception that government will privatise all schools but in fact the government has decided to hand over the administrative control of only those schools which have been failed to produce effective results. The 1,000 schools having zero result since last three years will be handed over to PEF out of total 53,000 schools run by Punjab government, he added.
He also assured the teachers community that their services will not be terminated and they will remain working on the same positions if a mutual understanding would be developed between teachers and new administration otherwise the government teachers would be transferred to nearest schools.
On the other hand, the representatives of teacher associations criticised the policy of government and declared it as first step to privatise the whole education system in the province of Punjab. They briefed the Daily Times that government is going to hand over 1,000 schools to PEF rather doing effort to improve their results. Punjab teachers’ association Rawalpindi chapter President Syed Hamid Ali has told the Daily Times that it is the duty of government under the article 25 of the constitution of Pakistan to provide basic education. He questions how the government can avoid from its constitutional obligation by throwing burden on others shoulder.
He said that the teacher community would resist this decision and not accept it at any cost. He further said that the Punjab Education Foundation is formed to do welfare of the teachers and students not to take over the entire educational system of Punjab.
Eminent educationist and International Islamic University Faculty of Social Sciences Dean Dr Nabi Buksh Jumani has told the Daily Times that there are visible problems in the whole system and many factors are being contributed in poor performance of education department for instance lack of professionalism, capacity and educational background issues. He further said that the system should be revamped and refurbished as it is the need of hour but not on experimental bases. Government should make a comprehensive policy in this regard and take all stakeholders onboard before taking any step.Daily Times.
