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2,728 teachers' posts vacant in Pindi district schools
RAWALPINDI, Aug 23: As many as 2,728 posts of teachers
are lying vacant in various schools of Rawalpindi district, Education Executive
District Officer Chaudhry Muhammad Yousaf said here on
Wednesday.
"The posts include 296 of grade 17 and above and 2,432 of
grade 11 to 16," said Yousaf. He said there were 47 schools of the Tehsil
Municipal Corporation and 2,430 schools of the Punjab government in the
district. The headmaster of a government school on the condition of anonymity
said that due to the shortage of teachers, students were suffering
as existing teachers had not been able to pay due attention to the extra
classes. He said many students were complaining that the syllabus would not be
completed in time. He said the teachers' shortage had increased the load on
other teachers, adding that in the absence of any extra benefit, the teachers
had lost interest in additional classes. He said employees of international or
private organisations were being paid for extra work, but no financial benefits
were being given to teachers of government schools. He said the shortage of
teachers was acute in rural areas because teachers were not ready to serve
there.
Mehmood Ahmed, a teacher at Maloot Satian, said that educated
males did not join the profession due to the low salaries being offered. He said
the teachers were being recruited on a contract basis against Rs 5,000 salary
per month without any facilities. "There are no incentives for teachers in rural
areas," he said, adding that in cities, regular teachers were being paid 45
percent of the basic salary as house rent allowance, while in rural areas, it
was 30 percent. Yousaf said the Punjab Public Service Commission would make
appointments for posts of grade 17 and above, while the district government
would make appointments for other posts. He said the district government had
formed a committee for the recruitments of grade 11-16 teachers and District
Coordination Officer (DCO) Irfan Elahi was its chairman. He said the DCO had
promised to take up the issue of shortage of teachers with the high
command.
Elahi said that last year, they had filled only 50 percent of
the vacant posts in schools, but as more teachers had been retired this year and
many were transferred to other districts, the number of vacancies had increased.
"Two weeks ago, I wrote to Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi about
the vacant posts and upon his positive response we will fill them," he said.
According to a report of the Centre for Peace and Development
Initiative, out of the Rs 6,560 million allocated for development projects in
Financial Year 2006-07, the Education Division was able to utilise only Rs 1,281
million by the end of March 2007. Hence, the total spending in nine months was
only 20 percent of the total allocation, which had exposed the government's tall
claims that it was spending more funds on the education sector. The report said
that by the end of March 2007, the total amount released to the Education
Division was Rs 2,124 million. The report further states that the poor
performance of the Education Division has already prompted the authorities
concerned to substantially revise the original PSDP allocation of Rs 6,560
million for 2006-07. At the time of the Mid Year Review, this allocation was
revised down to Rs 4,948 million, while Rs 1314 million were surrendered to the
Economic Affairs Division (EAD).
Mehboob Sada, an educationist, said that the government was allocating more funds for the education
sector. She said the funds were increasing every year, but the problem was that
the officials did not know where to spend the funds. Daily times
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