Karachi: January 27:Services of the teachers and affiliated staff working in the educational institutions run by the ETP Board have, at long last, been regularized. A period of 21 years is quite a time, almost the whole span of one’s active career. The credit goes to Syed Asif Hashmi, current Chairman, ETP Board.

By securing the jobs of teachers he has instilled a new spirit in their life and given them new impetus to educate children, especially girls, who belong to the exploited, neglected and deprived classes.

The ETPB institutions, at least two them, were established by the Punjab government in 1991 on the personal initiative of Sharif brothers at 1-Nicholson Road (Naulakha Chowk, Railway Station), Lahore. As it was their constituency of election, thickly populated by lower segments of society, the Sharifs felt the need for a school and a college for girls in the area. The ETP Board set up two more institutions. One of the schools still bears the name of PML-N leader and is known as Nawaz Sharif Girls High School. The college is in the name of Hazrat Ayesha Siddiqa. The institutions went under its control soon after the fall of the PML government in 1993, as the land on which they had been built belonged to Evacuee Trust Property Board. The seed money, though, had been pooled by the Punjab government.

The teaching staff had been hired in 15 and 16 pay scales as government’s regular employees but after the takeover, the ETP Board created Pakistan Model Institutions Educational Foundation (PMIEF) to further distance them from regular government service. The whole idea was that the employees should not be able to have the perks and privileges enjoyed by the ETP Board officials themselves.

Pakistan is a country where powerful classes have exploited the weaker classes in whatever form they can. The teachers were no exception to the rule. Though qualified, they had got the jobs through political backdoor. But they became rolling stones - sometimes between Punjab and federal governments and other times between the real bosses of the ETP Board and their surrogates, and in courts. It was but natural that the teachers, not knowing their own fate, could hardly motivate children they taught. The institutions dipped low and parents started withdrawing their wards.

During Musharraf regime, the ETP Board saw the rule of generals and colonels. But one good thing happened to these institutions. The new management hired competent heads from the private sector to arrest the downfall. Their performance improved tremendously. In fact, Nawaz Sharif Girls High School was the first to switch over from Urdu medium of teaching to English medium and produced good results without firing any of the old staff. This happened long before the Punjab government launched its new scheme of Danish schools in order to provide the same plinth to the children of the poorest. But Nawaz Sharif Girls High School was the first model or pilot project where results proved that all institutions run by the Punjab government in towns and tehsils can have English medium of instruction. Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif can switch over all schools to English medium of instruction with little effort and they all can become “Danish Schools.” Despite some good steps, the military rulers in the ETP Board brought more misery to teachers. The foundation that ran institutions was further degraded into an NGO. Teachers’ jobs were declared completely private. They were forced to sign the agreement. The military rulers enjoy fat salaries themselves but the status of teachers was further lowered. Hazrat Abu Bakr said, “When knowledge is limited - it leads to folly... When knowledge exceeds a certain limit, it leads to exploitation.”

This is how teachers were exploited. Even generally, teachers in Pakistan don’t enjoy the status which their counterparts enjoy in developed countries, even India. In modern countries, getting a teaching job is a bigger hassle than induction into DMG or Police groups through CSS. The best talent goes to teaching profession and teachers are paid better than government officials. In Pakistan, such a change is still a far cry.

However, under the PPP government the ETP Board had a seasoned political figure as its Chairman. Before Syed Asif Hashmi took over, the Board officials had been enjoying the benefits of evacuated properties brought under one head. The trust, which owns properties worth billions of rupees, is supposed to look after them. This includes shrines and temples as well. Various administrations had been ruthlessly exploiting its resources. Mr Hashmi is, however, utilizing some of its resources for the benefit of the poor segments. One of his good projects is Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Secondary High School in the thickly populated area around Ravi Road. Teachers who serve there will have residential quarters, too. Hashmi has also augmented and built more blocs for Nawaz Sharif Girls High School and other institutions. Of course, he has inducted more teachers through the PPP channels.

Some of the new teachers are daughters of gardeners, plumbers and masons. The institutions once had only Burqa-cladteachers only. Now there are more presentable faces, too. The institutions have acquired a balance.The news.