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Teacher recruitment beset by controversies
Karachi, Aug 6: Despite the fact that the ban on recruitment has not officially
been lifted, tests for vacant posts of 9,100 primary school teachers all over
Sindh concluded in the city, with about 13,000 candidates out of 16,000
registered, both male and female.
The entire process right from
conducting exams, to preparing the question paper, selecting venues and making
arrangements for the candidates was entirely computerised and handed over to
Pakistan Cadet College and IBA Sukkur. The contract given to these institutions
was aimed at absolute transparency in the announcement of results. Apparently,
the entire process was logical. The sole purpose of handing over the process to
these two institutions is to ensure that there is no space left for objections
and criticism from any quarter.
Thus, it can be said that the
examinations that were held after a lapse of 15 years with a total of 126,000
candidates across the province went reasonably well. A complete security system,
including rangers and law-enforcement agencies, monitored the entire situation.
Tests were held within a span of one month, after the powers of the incumbent
Provincial Education Minister, Hamida Khuhro were reduced to College affairs by
the Chief Minister Sindh, who now holds the portfolio of Education Minister for
schools.
In addition to the charges of corruption leveled against
Khuhro, another contentious issue between these two was that of the appointment
of teachers. A 'power-sharing formula' was agreed upon by the Chief Executive of
Sindh and his allied partners in accordance with the universally approved
formula of a 60:40 ratio.
The written tests for teachers were held
earlier with candidates paying Rs100 to get them registered and Rs150 to banks
as pay orders. These payments were non-refundable. The Chief Minister Sindh
declared these tests null based on the conviction that the department unearthed
a scam involving billions of rupees. The poor candidates were astonished by the
unexpected misuse of their hard-earned money.
It was reported that around
70,000 candidates appeared in the exams and a total of Rs70 million was
deposited in the government's bank account. The mystery surrounding this money
remains unresolved as no body wants to claim responsibility for what happened.
Instead, people have resorted to the easiest course of action; blaming one
another.
The written tests conducted last Monday were an exercise in
futility, as the appointments had already been made as per the 'power sharing
formula'.
The entire exercise was conducted just to show international
donors, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, that tests had been held.
However, nothing could be proved as the entire procedure was computerised one.
The names of successful candidates will be displayed on August 12, as announced
by the Chief Minister himself. Only then will the truth be known.
In
contrast to the process in Sindh, in other provinces regular appointments were
made through public service commissions.
Whereas in our province, the
last competitive exams of the Sindh Public Service Commission were held in 2002,
the results of which too were cancelled by the Chief Minster. The absence of the
commission created problems in all sectors by way of a domino effect. These
problems need to be checked by the authorities concerned. The news
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