Cabinet body on BISE employees’ issues bows out

Lahore, The cabinet committee formed by Chief Minister Punjab to address grievances of employees of eight +examination boards of the province finally gave up following the employees continued strikes and their complete boycott on Monday.

The cabinet committee, headed by Senior Advisor to CM Punjab Sardar Zulfiqar Ali Khan Khosa in its meeting held on Monday expressed great annoyance over what it termed “uncooperative” attitude of the representatives of the boards’ employees. The other members of the cabinet committee included Punjab Minister for Education Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman, Secretary Finance and Secretary Higher Education.

It is important to mention here that the employees of eight Boards of Intermediate & Secondary Education (BISEs) of the province have been observing strike for the last couple of weeks over CM’s decision to abolish examination and registration fees for matriculation students of public sector schools.

They are of the view that the CM’s decision has led to financial crisis for the boards and in case the government did not grant funds, the boards might collapse financially.

A member of the committee, seeking anonymity, said some representatives of the BISEs employees had a meeting with Punjab Minister for Education a couple of days back and had assured that the agitation would be stopped till recommendations of the cabinet committee.

He said, however, the Monday meeting decided in principle that it would not deliberate further on the issue and meet the representatives of employees unless the strike was called off.

An official of the Punjab Higher Education Department, seeking anonymity, said the boards’ employees were enjoying different kinds of financial benefits along with salaries. “They have fears that the CM’s decision to abolish fee will end any future possibility of new financial benefits owing to which they are protesting”, he added.

He said people visiting boards daily had been suffering a lot owing to the pen-down strike of boards’ employees, adding it was unfortunate that the situation was not being realized by the BISEs especially in the wake of upcoming matriculation annual examinations.

A citizen, Qamar, said he had submitted dues to get his son’s matriculation certificate from BISE Lahore a couple of weeks ago adding however the pen-down strike had been delaying the whole process. “No one including Chairman, Secretary or the Controller are in position to help me out”, he lamented.

Meanwhile, according to a press statement of BISE Lahore’s Employees Welfare Association, the Punjab Minister for Education in meeting with the Employees Federation of Educational Boards Punjab (EFEBP) on Friday backed its demands but could not give a timeframe owing to which the protest would continue.

The statement further reads “It has been decided that the strike will not be called off unless the government issues alternative funds or grants to the boards.”

When contacted, Minister for Education Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman said the government was well aware of the financial issues faced by the boards.

“The BISEs employees had been assured that all genuine problems would be solved”, he said adding “However this is unfortunate that they are still reluctant and not ending the strike”.

To a question, the minister said Rs 700 million was required annually to meet financial needs of the BISEs, adding a summary in this regard had been moved to the chief minister for final approval.

Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman further said he had met with some representatives of BISEs a couple of days ago and had assured full cooperation. “The cabinet committee has been formed but still the boards’ employees are protesting which is quite strange”, he added.