Senior Minister for Education & Literacy Pir Mazhar ul Haq has taken a serious notice of news item appeared in Pakistan Today on 9-10-2012 in which it has been alleged that more than 300 ineligible candidates have been issued letters of appointment as Sindhi Language Teachers.
Through director information Sindh Yousaf Kabooro , Pir Mazhar sent his explanation regarding , 300 ineligible candidates have been issued letters of appointment as Sindhi Language Teachers.
Pir Explaining in his press release, he said that Sindh Education Department had appointed 14,000 teachers through a transparent process and for the recruitment of these teachers credible institutions like IBA Sukkur conducted tests.
He explained, that the appointments of Sindhi Language Teachers were the domain of Director Schools and Chief Minister Sindh and Minister of Education had nothing to do with the appointments of Sindhi Language Teachers. Minister for Education said that however he had taken the notice of the news and he would conduct the inquiry in this regards and if any one was found guilty would be taken to task. Sources said, More than 300 ineligible candidates have been issued letters of appointment as Sindhi Language Teachers (SLTs) in Karachi, a majority of them belonging to non-Sindhi speaking communities,
Despite completion of all formalities, the appointment process of more than 1,200 Sindhi Language Teachers (SLTs) had come to a grinding halt due to a running feud between Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah and Education Minister Pir Mazhar-ul-Haq regarding the selection of candidates. However, the appointment process was recently resumed by giving additional charge of the responsibilities of director education to a low-grade official Abdul Jabbar Dayo.
The director, sources said, was allegedly famous for appeasing all his bosses and pocketing his due share. After the resumption of the appointment process, candidates received direct offer letters from Dayo in return for bribes worth Rs 400,000 for BPS-9, Rs 600,000 for BPS-14 and Rs 800,000 for BPS-15 appointments.
MNA Faryal Talpur, who is also the sister of President Asif Ali Zardari, ordered that the documents of all appointees be verified, when the issue was brought to her notice.
Upon verification, it was found that 300 offer letters for SLTs were issued to non-eligible candidates on cash payments, and the majority of them belonged to Urdu and Baloch-speaking people. It was also disclosed that a majority of these candidates were over-age and held fake degrees and certificates. The PPP-led Sindh had announced recruitment of around 1,200 SLTs in BPS-9, 14 and 15, with two preconditions: candidates must have studied Sindhi as a compulsory subject throughout their education and possessed a Karachi domicile.
Sources further told Pakistan Today , that the written test for candidates was held in March 2012 while interviews were conducted in April 2012. Sources told Pakistan Today that the merit list of the successful candidates was to be put on display in the first week of May. From then on the rift over who to benefit between the two luminaries of the government has remained unresolved, hence, no appointments. The candidates could be seen wandering in Sindh’s education department asking date for issuance of merit list and the display of merit list, returning empty-handed, other than the vague promise that the CM would issue the appointments himself.
Candidates were seeking a date for the announcement of the merit list only received a vague promise, from the Sindh Education Ministry, that the CM would issue the appointments himself. Pir Mazhar was said to be trying to influence the CM to get his way, while the CM was insisting on merit-based recruitment without waiving the preconditions, divulged a source.
Pir Mazhar was said to be trying to influence the CM to get his way, while the CM was insisting on merit-based recruitment without waiving the preconditions, divulged a source. Pir Mazhar meanwhile has left for London, citing health issue of his spouse.
A source close to the CM informed Pakistan Today , Qaim also had complained to President Asif Zardari rude attitude of Pir Mazhar and the president has reportedly has given his go-ahead to the CM on recruitment of SLTs on merit basis. Interestingly, Mazhar had also developed a serious dispute with the CM Sindh over ‘strict’ conduct of former secretary education, Nahid S Durrani, who happens to be the CM’s daughter.
With Pir Mazhar siding with elements involved in receiving kickbacks, Naheed Durrani’s efforts to curb corruption and other irregularities in the Sindh Education Department resulted in her ouster. Initially, Nahid was sent on leave, but the move is a precursor to her transfer from the department. Pir Mazhar, it appears, also used Faryal Talpur’s [President Zardari’s sister], offices to remove Naheed from the secretary’s post.
The inquiries initiated by Durrani against embezzlement and other irregularities in the department are likely to be stopped after her removal, with things settling to the way before. Durrani has sent three different cases of corruption and irregularities to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and National Accountability Courts for proceedings in April alone. Each of these dealt with embezzlement of millions in the name of education. The first reference sent to the NAB court was filed under section 18 of the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO)-1999, with Durrani bringing up the of embezzlement in procurement of some 42 vehicles, for which the Sindh government had paid Rs 94.966 million to M/s. World Automobiles, Karachi.
The orders for the vehicles were placed in connection with a project backed by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) named ‘Revitalizationn of Existing Teacher Training Institutions of Sindh’. The project aimed at providing basic needs to all teacher training institutions of Sindh, and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed in 2006 between the Pakistan government and CIDA. The project was federally funded at a cost of Rs1,261.733 million, with a completion period of five years from Feb 23, 2007.
The project sought to improve the quality of primary and middle-school education, and was to provide vehicles, mobile in-service teaching units, resource kits and scholarships. As many as 42 vehicles had to be provided to 42 institutions for mobile in-service teaching units, at an estimated cost of Rs 149.949 million. An agreement was signed between the then project director of the education department and M/s. World Automobiles Karachi. After approving quotations provided, the department paid World Automobiles in full, but despite the passage of more than four years, the company has only delivered 16 vehicles.
The sources said that the highups in the Education Department received heavy kickbacks from the company, and as a result, ignored the matter for four years. When Durrani assumed charge as the secretary, she inquired about the matter, and after getting an improper reply from the company, she sent a reference to the NAB court for the recovery of the remaining Rs62 million. In the reference, she had prayed to the NAB court that the respondents should be directed to provide the remaining 27 vehicles booked on advance payment as well as pay a penalty at prescribed percentage of undelivered vehicles, or return Rs62 million and pay interest at the market rate from 2007 to the date a decision is handed out.
She also prayed to the court to initiate criminal proceedings after comparison of documents submitted by the defendants. In another reference, Durrani on behalf of the education department prayed the NAB court to direct the owners of World Automobiles, Karachi to deliver Hinopak buses that the department placed orders for in 2007, or return Rs37 million as well as a fine. The third case was of auditing the accounts of the Sindh Textbook Board: Durrani had written a letter to NAB authorities to screen the audit. Subsequently, NAB had initiated an inquiry last week.
Durrani had also taken strict action against illegal use of more than 20 vehicles of the education department by the personal staff of the minister. She had also taken notice of fake appointments in the Department, and the Anti-Corruption Department after completing its inquiry, had sent a case to the courts for further proceedings. A deputy secretary and former section officer of the department are behind bars in this case.
Recently, Sources alleged that the director education and his close associates were openly selling the jobs and demanding at least Rs 100,000 from the candidates waiting for posting orders. Recently, a group of qualified candidates also scuffled with the director at his office. The angry candidates were given posting orders on the spot. Sources said , on Monday Abdul Jabbar Dayo were trasferrred to his old post. Pakistan Today repeatedly tried to contact Pir Mazhar of the story however his cell phones remained on , after text and giving message to his P.S he did not replied.
Although sources said, that Pir Him self and his son Pir Mujeed ul haq also involved in SLT stuffs.
