Service rules for English teachers being framed

Staff Report

LAHORE: On directions of the Punjab Ombudsman, former Justice Sajjad Ahmed Sipra, the Education department has set-up a committee to regularise service rules for elementary school English teachers who claim they are being given the short shrift by the administration.

The ruling came in the case filed by one Rasheed, appointed as elementary English teacher in 1997 on basic pay scale 14. Despite working for five years Mr Rasheed has neither been transferred nor given a pay raise.

Mr Sipra referred the matter to the director of public institutions in the Punjab and the Education secretary for Schools who stated that under World Bank directives, “English elementary (school) teachers are for specific schools and cannot be transferred.” The secretary said these teachers are not entitled grant of leave, annual bonuses or appointments to higher posts. Their recruitment is done on a year-to-year basis.

The ombudsman observed that, “In the absence of service rules in respect of elementary English teachers, the department is haunted by a lot of confusion vis-à-vis grant of leave, study leave, ex-Pakistan leave and increments on enhanced qualification, annual increments and appointments to higher posts from among those in the service quota. The department should therefore, consider the case of these teachers.”

The Education department reported that demands of the elementary English teachers with regards to framing service rules for the protection of their services are under consideration by the government and that the government has constituted a committee to this end.

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