–DBE ‘demotes’ principal of Islamabad Convent School F-8/4 for refusing to flout court orders restricting termination of school’s administrator
–DBE secretary general denies discrimination against non-Catholic staff, admits no show cause notice issued to principal
The Diocesan Board of Education (DBE) of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rawalpindi and Islamabad has been accused of systematic discrimination after some protestant employees were forced to resign and a principal was also demoted and transferred without justification, Pakistan Today has learnt.
According to details, on Aug 7, Archbishop Dr Joseph Arshad, who is also the chairman of the DBE, directed Ms Sheeba David, the principal of the Islamabad Convent School (ICS) F-8/4, to surrender her charge and assume responsibilities as a “teacher” at the Saint Mary’s Academy in Lalazar, Rawalpindi, in her “own pay and scale” on Aug 8.
Ms David, a protestant Christian by faith, was appointed principal of the ICS F-8/4 and ICS H-8/4 in 2015, after the Pakistani government cancelled the visas of Ms Miraflor Aclan Bahan, principal of the F-8 branch, and Delia Coyoca Rubio, the principal of the H-8 branch, over security concerns due to their foreign nationalities. The charge of the H-8 branch was later taken from Ms David and she remained the principal of the F-8 branch till her “transfer”.
Talking to Pakistan Today, Ms David claimed that she had been demoted as a teacher and transferred to Saint Mary’s Academy without being provided any reason by the DBE.
“It is systematic discrimination against protestant Christians. I’ve served the institute for nearly 25 years but the manner in which I’ve been treated reeks of bias of the Catholic clergy towards Protestants,” she said.
Elaborating further, the former principal said that on July 1, the DBE terminated the services of the F-8 school administrator Sunil Nazeer, also a protestant, without any reason.
“However, Mr Nazeer obtained a stay order from the court against his removal. On Aug 5, when the school reopened for the staff members, Mr Nazeer came to the school along with two officials of the court and entered his office. I informed the DBE chairman and the secretary about the situation, however, they pressurized me not to let Mr Nazeer in.
“I told them that he had a stay order and was accompanied by court officials, therefore they should come to the school and deal with the issue themselves. Instead, they kept insisting that I force him out of the premises regardless of the court orders. I refused to follow their verbal orders because I didn’t want to face contempt of court proceedings without written directions of the DBE management,” she said.
“The DBE terminated Mr Nazeer’s services without any reason, just as it forced the director academics Ms Sheena Sohail, also a protestant, to resign last month,” she claimed.
“Ms Sheena Sohail and Ms Nabeela George, principal of the Saint Mary’s School, were issued show cause notices on the same charge. While Ms Sheena was forced to resign, Ms Nabeela was allowed to continue her services because she’s Catholic.”
Ms David said that when she reached the school on Aug 7, her transfer letter, signed by the archbishop, was handed over to her by the office assistant.
“I telephoned the DBE office-bearers and asked them to give me the reason for the demotion and transfer but all of them feigned ignorance. I then phoned my husband and asked him to come to the school as I was feeling very depressed. When he came over, we went outside for some time but on our return, the school guards refused to let me in on the orders of the DBE secretary general.”
“This is how the Catholic DBE has repaid me for my 25 years of meritorious service,” she lamented.
Another former employee of the ICS F-8 endorsed Ms David’s claim of systematic discrimination by the Catholic clergy.
Ms Rachna Mansoor was employed as the school nurse at the F-8 campus on April 19, 2016, however, her services were not regularized till the time of her resignation on Aug 2, 2019.
“I worked as the school nurse for three years and four months but despite several requests to the DBE, my services were not regularized. The Catholic DBE was clearly discriminating against me because several Catholics who joined the institution after me were handed their permanent contracts after three months, while I, a protestant, continued to serve on a temporary appointment letter,” she told Pakistan Today.
Ms Mansoor, frustrated by the DBE’s discriminatory attitude, decided to resign from the institute.
“There was no point in continuing to serve an organisation where people are judged on the basis of their faith, not work,” she added.
Pakistan Today telephoned Catholic Archbishop of Rawalpindi/Islamabad Dr Joseph Arshad and also sent him a text message for his comment on the issue. However, he did not respond by the time this report was made.
When contacted, DBE Secretary General Waqar Ul Haq denied allegations of discriminatory practices towards the non-Catholic staff.
“It’s true that Ms David has been demoted as a teacher and transferred to another institute but she’s still a part of our organisation,” he said.
He added that the former principal was removed because “she failed to follow the management’s orders”.
“It’s true that no show cause notice was issued to Ms David,” Haq admitted, but hastened to add that several meetings had been held with the former principal over the issue of Mr Nazeer’s termination and “she wasn’t very cooperative with us”.
The DBE official denied that there were any charges of financial misappropriation or corruption against the administrator or the principal. “There is no such allegations against either of them,” he said.
Haq refused to comment further on the issue, saying Archbishop Dr Joseph had issued the transfer letter to Ms David and he was the best person to comment on the decision.