LAHORE: The Punjab Daanish Schools and Centre of Excellence Authority have appointed Bilal Khalid to a post of the general manager (Engineering) while compromising the procedures and rules of selecting a candidate for the top slot.
According to documents available with Pakistan Today, Bilal Khalid was appointed GM in 2016 in grade- 20 despite the fact that he was rejected eight months earlier by the authority for the post of the deputy manager (Engineering) in grade-18.
The selection committee had not even short-listed Bilal Khalid for the interview and had written that he was “not fit for the post” on his application on August 19, 2016. According to sources in Punjab Daanish Schools and Centre of Excellence Authority, Bilal Khalid colluded with Managing Director Amir Hafeez and got the profitable post.” The MD favoured him to the extent that he relaxed rules, criterion for appointment, cancelled an already advertisement given for the post of the GM (Engineering),” the sources said.
Interestingly, Bilal Khalid returned this favour to his subordinates and appointed Assistant Manager (Engineering) Abdul Ghani and Majid against the rules in grade-17. The stakeholders alleged that Abdul Ghani does not hold the required degree and experience but he was adjusted since he was Bilal’s colleague and friend at Wateen Telecom in 2007.
According to the website of the Punjab Daanish Schools and Centre of Excellence Authority, the authority has Rs 5,000 million budget and is running schools in Rahim Yar Khan, Hasilpur (Bahawalpur), Chishtian (Bahawalnagar), Harnoli (Mianwali), Jand (Attock), Dera Ghazi Khan and Fazilpur (Rajanpur). The authority has also converted the government schools in Dera Ghazi Khan, Muzaffargarh, Sialkot, Rojhan, Jaranwala (Boys) and Hafizabad (Girls) into centres of excellences (COEs) and brought their functioning under the ambit of the Daanish schools.
Punjab Daanish Schools and Centre of Excellence Authority Chief Operating Officer (COO) Zahoor Hussain said he does not see anything wrong with the appointment of GM (Engineering). Comparing his rejection and later appointment on a higher post, Zahoor cited his personal example and said, “I failed in the first attempt of the CSS but got selected in the second attempt. There is no problem with it. The same applies to Bilal,” he maintained while talking to Pakistan Today. He held that Bilal was appointed by the selection committee and all rules and regulation were followed.
The Daanish schools are a brainchild of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif for forgotten communities of Pakistan. They are being established to fight poverty through educating the children of the underprivileged families of the Punjab.
However, some opposition parties and critics believe that big projects like Daanish schools are just meant to befool the poor masses; they are not even improving the education sector as the literacy indicators were still at low rankings.
According to reports, Pakistan is just ahead of Afghanistan in South Asian countries vis-à-vis- education indicators.
