FDE considering one-time induction for teachers on deputation
Zubair Qureshi
In view of the holy month of Ramazan-al-Mubarak and COVID-19 pandemic that has assumed threatening proportions in the country the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) has decided to grant one-time induction to all the 200 or so teachers working in its schools on deputation.
According to sources in the directorate, the Director General of the FDE and Secretary Ministry of Education have agreed on giving these teachers what they have been demanding for last many years.
A four-member committee of the FDE on the orders of the Islamabad High Court concluded interviews of all the deputationists last week subjecting their documents and testimonials to close scrutiny and interviewed them individually.
The court had asked the FDE Director General to complete the process of individual scrutiny of each teacher and evaluate his/her case and see if he/she met the minimum criteria of the directorate of schools.
“Most of these teachers meet the criteria i.e. second division in F.A/F.Sc and have come through proper channel by getting the No Objection Certificate (NOC) from their provinces,” said a senior member of the committee that interviewed them.
Minister for Education & Professional Training Shafqat Mahmood in a TV interview had also hinted that 80pc to 90pc of these teachers would be inducted while other members of the Federal Cabinet including Ali Muhammad Khan and Pervaiz Khattak had also assured these teachers, mostly lady teachers that they would not be repatriated to their provinces as it would mean putting them to huge trouble and exposing them to coronavirus.
Islamabad has a 10pc quota for deputation teachers in its over 400 schools however this quota is for taking the teachers on deputation not inducting them permanently, said another official of the FDE.
However, he further said in 2013 a summary for one-time induction was moved by the committee chairman Saqib Shahba then a director of schools to the Ministry and the summary had got a nod in principle by the prime minister at that time.
However, no further progress was made on this since then. The FDE since 2010 has also inducted a number of deputationists on permanent basis due to some political influence or pick and choose policy.f
