Moalims

KARACHI: The Sindh education department has decided to recover the funds disbursed in salaries to ghost teachers using its biometric attendance system.

Sindh education secretary Fazlullah Pechuho boasted that Sindh is the only province in the country to have biometric attendance in the education department. “I can tell you how many teachers were absent in a particular district,” he said, giving a performance report to the provincial watchdog, Sindh Public Accounts Committee, at the committee room of the Sindh Assembly on Wednesday.

The meeting was chaired by PAC chairperson Saleem Raza Jalbani. Senior Education Minister Nisar Ahmed Khuhro also attended part of the meeting to observe the proceedings.

Teachers protest over unpaid salaries

There are 940 government high school teachers in district Kambar-Shahdadkot, Pechuho pointed out. “I asked for a report and was provided the records of only 600 teachers,” he said. “We’ll take back the salaries they drew and action will be taken against the officials involved.”

Pechuho claimed that the education department has done a lot of things in Sindh. “But there is poor publicity in the media as compared to other provinces,” he felt.

Replying to MPA Surath Thebo’s queries about the failure to reopen schools that have been shut down, the secretary laid the blame on his predecessor. “It is not a political statement but I have taken action against the teachers who were appointed during the tenure of former education minister Pir Mazharul Haq,” he said. “All 30,000 appointments were declared null and void.”

There are numerous schools in different areas that were built during the era of former president, General (retd) Pervez Musharraf. “Schools were built where they were not actually needed,” he claimed, adding that a model school worth Rs60 million is being built in each taluka.

Pechuho’s briefing worked and Jalbani appeared convinced of the efforts being made by the education department. “The education department is trying to solve issues and it has done a lot of changes,” he said. He added, however, that people criticised its performance as there are more changes needed.

“The issue of ghost teachers won’t be solved until and unless politicians deny their support to such teachers,” said Pakistan Peoples Party MPA Sardar Shah. “Politicians shouldn’t patronise teachers. There should be zero tolerance in this sector.”

CIDA project

Officials of various departments, including finance and education, discussed the Canadian International Development Agency (Cida) project worth Rs260 million and learned that Rs150 million were misused by education department officials. The Chief Minister Inspection Team (CMIT) is already investigating the corruption in this project that was meant to train teachers. Jalbani asked the CMIT head to submit the investigation report to him within 20 days.

According to Pechuho, the Cida project began in Sindh in 2007 to train teachers but it was not completed on time and the funds were not utilised properly.

Dig into the past

During the PAC meeting, some financial concerns regarding the audit reports for the financial year 2008-2009 also came up. “We are discussing eight-year-old finances now,” commented Khuhro, as he spoke to the media later. He admitted that the delay was not reasonable and that such financial concerns should be discussed immediately.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 7th, 2016.