Over 2,000 'habitual' absentee teachers to be terminated

QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti has ordered the termination of around 2,000 teachers of different cadres for absenteeism, ARY News reported.

The decision was taken during an education department meeting presided over by CM Bugti regarding the habitual absentee teachers, dysfunctional education institutes and the reforms in the provincial education system.

The chief minister ordered the appointment of teachers on a contract basis to address the issue of teacher shortage in the schools.

In this regard, the chief secretary of Balochistan has been mandated to complete the termination process of the absent teachers within two months.

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The meeting also deliberated on the literacy rate in the province, the provision of basic necessities to public education institutes and the issues faced by the education system.

To ensure teachers’ presence, the government will install biometric systems for attendance at educational institutes which will be looked after by the head of the organisation.

The pilot project of the system will be launched in Dera Bugti and Musakhail districts and will be later expanded to all districts.

Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti directed the relevant authorities to include local bodies’ representatives in the district education groups to ensure teachers’ compliance with the working regime.

The chief minister vowed to cleanse the education department from all forms of interference including political, saying that the appointment of the teachers and officers will be done on the basis of merit.

According to CM Bugti, the non-functional schools also included those educational institutes where the teachers and staff were drawing salaries, however, the infrastructures were in the use of inflectional individuals and feudal lords.

During the meeting, the participants were briefed about the educational system in the province which includes around 80,000 teachers and 7,000 single-room schools while as many as 3,300 schools were dysfunctional.