Action against ghost employees especially government teachers of Balochistan
By Anzila Baloch
Title: To enhace the literacy rate of Balochistan by taking strict action against ghost employees
Ghost Teachers in Pakistan:
According to the Woodrow Wilson Center: Historically teachers have not had to show up to school or perform in order to receive their salaries. Teacher absenteeism rates have been very high: 20 percent in Punjab and 30 percent in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and 20 percent in Balochistan. Pakistan has had a ghost school problem because of its large population of ghost and absent teachers. Education officials have not been able to compel teachers to show up. A report by the Society for the Advancement of Education (SAHE) explains: “Historically, politicians have used teacher recruitment as a form of political patronage…. Many teachers with a persistent record of absenteeism often have a politician as a patron. The latter block any serious disciplinary proceedings against them.” [Source: “Pakistan’s Education Crisis”, Woodrow Wilson Center, July 2016 ==]
Government teachers are also paid very well: five times what private schools teachers are paid. From this salary, ghost teachers can pay off administrators to maintain their attendance record or to a relative to show up in their place. The teacher then lives in a larger, more comfortable city like Karachi, or even as far as Dubai or London, and has another full-time job. Private schools by contrast pay teachers US$25 to US$50 per month and that is about how much it costs a government teacher to hire a substitute.
Getting Rid of Ghost Teachers:
According to the Woodrow Wilson Center: “The first step in the reform process has been striking ghost teachers from the payrolls and making sure teachers are in school.
The situation may have slightly improved after the introduction of the biometric [verification] system for teachers’ attendances; however, the situation of the public education system remains weak on multiple fronts. ==
“According to Khalid Khattak, an investigator reporter on education for The News who runs DataStories.pk: “Punjab doesn’t have a ghost teacher problem like it used to. It’s because of the monitoring system that the government has put in place. They are also taking disciplinary action against teachers who do not show up. Punjab has fired many teachers. We keep hearing complaints from teachers’ associations.” According to data he obtained through the Right to Information law, in 2015 alone Punjab took disciplinary action against 22,972 teachers and removed 1,615 from service.
It is not only the case with government teachers in balochistan infact each and every government department is facing this problem and just like Punjab,Balochistan also needs to take sound measures against these ghost employees
The writer is a freelance journalist and social activist.
