Zubair Qureshi
Monday turned out to be a big day for the teachers, mostly female teachers, working on deputation under wedlock in various schools of Islamabad for last several years as Members of the Senate too passed the Protection of Family Life & Wedlock Bill 2023 paving the way for these female teachers to join the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) as its permanent teachers. The bill prepared by a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator was moved by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) Senator Kamran Murtaza in the Upper House and the members belonging to all the political parties, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and others gave a unanimous ‘aye’ to the bill. Now, President Dr Arif Alvi is expected to sign the bill on Tuesday (today) and the bill will then become an Act of the Parliament. Earlier the National Assembly under the chairmanship of Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf had on July 27, 2023 passed the bill with a loud ‘aye.’
An official of the FDE while talking to Pakistan Observer, Monday expressed his “relief” that the department would be saved from unending litigation and correspondence as all the deputationist lady teachers whose husbands are working or serving in Islamabad (around 300) will be given a one-time blanket absorption. We were tired of sending them letters to bring NOCs from their parent departments in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Balochistan, Sindh and even Gilgit Baltistan and AJK etc or face repatriation. In return they secured stay orders from the courts and thus lingered an ending process of litigation, he said. The teachers on deputation were beside themselves with joy as they heard the news of the Senate’s approval of the wedlock bill. “This is the biggest day of my life,” said Javed Swati, one of the deputation teachers. He has been leading these teachers during the turbulent times when the previous government had refused to grant them absorption, etc. Senior lawyer of Islamabad Sardar Masroof Advocate who was also an active member of the “Movement for Absorption of Teachers on Deputation” was all praise for the lady teachers who remained steadfast and faced all the pressure tactics but finally convinced the government that absorption was their right and they could not leave their families and children in Islamabad and return to their provinces.
