Muhammad Sohail Ahmed
ISLAM is the biggest bounty for any human being as it ensures safety security and well-being of the homo-sapiens in the world and hereafter. In the epoch, Pakistan is yet a great gift of Allah to the Muslims of the subcontinent region. The proof lies in the visible suppression of the Muslims in India culminating in adverse atrocities in India-occupied Kashmir. In the Muslim majority State of Kashmir, a young student waved the Flag of Pakistan, reminding us in Pakistan that after 70 years of independence the Muslims of India continue to remain oppressed; the flag-raising is a manifestation of the difficulties being confronted by our brothers in India. How should we express our gratitude? The answer is that we should serve our public, across the board in the best possible manner. Quaid-i-Azam, Muhammad Ali Jinnah asked the civil servants to work tirelessly thus the famous adages, ‘Work, Work and Work’ & ‘Unity, Faith and Discipline’. Discussions among ex-patriates abroad suggest that people in Pakistan are far more satisfied in general than in India.
This situation can be further improved through help and better communication. One such area demanding the attention of our honourable leadership and decision-makers is the long-awaited procedural delays caused in regularisation of the low paid employees of Islamabad Federal Directorate of Education. Initially, they were appointed on daily wages by the government. Later on, these employees requested to be regularised in the mainstream of regular service employees. This resulted in a conflicting situation. Where should the employees go to get their problems solved? the matter was taken to the court as the daily wages employees felt that there were upcoming vacancies against which there could be adjustments. This could be a win-win solution because the experience gained as daily-wager could be used by the individuals in regular service. Moreover, it would save a training cost to the government.
The matter ended up subsequently in the High Court thereby wasting a long time (almost a decade) to resolve the problem. The positive side of the picture is that many of the resilient teachers started to improve their qualification and continued to enrich their experience despite being ‘daily wagers’. Islamabad High Court in its verdict of 2018 directed the authorities to issue posting orders within 90 days to the employees regularised by the Cabinet Committee. It also directed the Federal Government to regularise grade 1-15 employees within 90 days of the verdict and asked the Ministry to refer grade 16/17 cases to Federal Public Service Commission for codal formalities. However, the matter was taken in the Supreme Court just to be turned down by the honourable judges upholding the decision of the Islamabad High Court. This has wasted yet another year which has only consolidated the stance of the employees. Now is the time to implement the decision and forget the previously held difference of opinion or any hard feelings/ grievances by all the stakeholders.
The Federal Minister for Education during his recently held Press conference highlighted various steps to regularise the daily wages employees. Interestingly, he has highlighted shortage of teachers in Islamabad region. He also highlighted that the Government was working to solve this ‘complicated issue’ and posting a full Director General of Schools at Islamabad was being contemplated. It was mentioned that there is a proposal to start ‘matric tech’ programme which will probably support/enhance technological and vocational qualification at the grass-root level and contribute to the development of technology in Pakistan. As highlighted by the Federal Minister that there was a plan to establish five centres of excellence which points out that the Government desires to enhance capacity for the development of technology, educational level of masses according to their intellectual capacity. Therefore, it can be concluded that there is an increase in demand for teachers to meet the requirement of the growing population. There exists a requirement to formulate a pool of these daily wagers under the arrangement of a task force to be established at the Ministry of Education and prepare a placement plan for these employees. There is a requirement to give this issue a priority, on the lines of stated priority of the government to revise the syllabus at the national level. The target has been set by the Ministry as 2020, up to class eight and 2021 for class 9th and 10th.
The court order contains the target dates but to date, these deadlines have already been surpassed by four months. With the delay in implementation of court orders, the desperation at the individual levels is rising day by day although the matter has been settled by the court and there is no apparent justification to further delay the process. Some of the desperate teachers have threatened to go for self-immolation by 10 September if the court orders are not implemented. This situation is uncalled for and such outcome is not in the best interest of any of the stakeholders. A full-fledged Director General along with a professional team has the potential to address the issue of regularisation and therefore should be appointed with task to resolve the court order on priority. Pakistan is a great nation and its people have always overcome challenges many times greater than this. Kashmir turmoil is a reminder for realizing the bounties that have come to its people and be accommodative to each other on the issues awaited either trivial or big. It is recommended that when the justice has been delivered albeit with some delay, it should be implemented immediately as justice delayed is justice denied.
—The author is a freelance writer and Retired commodore of Pakistan Navy.
