Teachers have stopped pursuing Management Positions in KPK
The Peshawar High Court granted a stay order on Wednesday, preventing the elementary and secondary education department from giving more teaching staff members administrative responsibilities.
A bench made up of Justices Syed Arshad Ali and Muhammad Ijaz Khan ordered the chief secretary and the secretary of elementary and secondary education (E&SE) to reply to a petition submitted by twenty-four officers in the department’s management cadre in a span of two weeks. The appointment of teaching cadre officers to management roles intended for the management cadre is contested in the petition.
The petitioners requested the court to enforce the National Education Policy, as well as relevant superior court rulings and service rules, regarding their cadre. They also sought an order directing authorities to “adjust” them into management cadre roles.
The petition, filed by Jaffar Mansoor Abbasi and 23 other officers ranging from BPS-16 to BPS-19, requested interim relief by preventing the department from assigning teachers to management positions until the case is resolved.
Respondents in the petition include the provincial government, represented by the chief secretary, and the secretaries of the establishment and elementary and secondary education departments.
The bench voiced concerns throughout the hearing that management cadre officers were being designated officers on special duty, earning salary without carrying out any work, while teaching cadre officers were being appointed to management responsibilities.
The petitioners’ attorney, Khalid Rehman, contended that the placement of 24 management cadre officers at the directorate of elementary and secondary education’s disposal in May 2024 for the purpose of promoting teaching cadre officers to management positions was unlawful and in violation of rulings from higher courts.
He emphasised that the National Education Policy of 2009, which was implemented by the federal government, recognised the need for professional standards and experience in modern educational administration and created a distinct division between management and teaching cadres.
Rehman went on to say that the terms and circumstances for appointments and promotions, as well as the formal notification of the splitting of cadres from BPS-16 to BPS-20, which created a hierarchical framework for the management cadre, were authorised by the provincial cabinet.
He emphasised that the high court initially considered the question of dividing the management and teaching cadres, ruling on November 18, 2009, that highly educated teachers ought to revert to their individual teaching roles rather than take administration positions.
Rehman added that although the management cadre’s regulations were changed on April 7, 2012, to permit the transfer of officers in the teaching cadre, the high court eventually ruled that the changes were unlawful.
He said that in order to ensure effective performance and the intended results in the education sector, the province government must put the National Education Policy into practice. This includes keeping the management and teaching cadres apart.
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