Karachi, March 18: Candidates qualifying for the post of Primary School Teachers (PSTs) are faced with double dilemma – missing of names and the change in order in the merit list displayed at the EDO (Education) Office. However, the whole exercise appears in futility as the powers responsible are yet to strike a cord.

The affected candidates blocked the Karachi-Larkana road near Police Training School for sometime on Wednesday to register their resentment over the blunders. The protesting candidates raised slogans against the discrepancies in merit list.

They showed burnt pages of the merit list displayed on Tuesday which then was replaced but with the missing 'yes' and 'no' column which has created further confusion.

SPO Irshad Bhutto forced the candidates to call off their protest and clear the road after threatening them of action.

Yasir Bhatti said that a list of candidates was displayed in the office of the EDO Education on Tuesday with remarks 'yes' and 'no' mentioned against the names of candidates to be 'recruited' or 'rejected'.

The advertisement initially stated no conditions but announced of providing jobs to candidates securing 60 per cent marks in test but later recruitment was linked with extra educational qualifications, he said.

EDO (Education) Syed Rasool Bakhsh Shah said that he displayed the unsigned merit list on Tuesday only to identify mistakes which was replaced on Wednesday. He said that education officer Akhtar Korejo should be contacted for correction if a mistake was traced.

EDO further disclosed that not a single vacancy of PST was announced at the time of advertisement but later, MNA Faryal Talpur got sanctioned 1,158 seats under special SNE, and another 120 were created thus pushing the number to 1,278.

The World Bank and Sindh's Education Minister Pir Mazharul Haq are yet to agree on student-teacher ratio as former stresses on 50:1 and the later on 45:1 with the aim to accommodating the maximum number of candidates.

Talks between the World Bank officials and education minister are scheduled for 25th & 26th of this month in Karachi for finalisation of criterion while the District Recruitment Committee (DRC) headed by DCO would meet next week to "prepare" merit list, he said. The EDO evaded the query as to what compelled him to prepare a merit list which has caused confusion among candidates when the matter among the World Bank, Education Department and the DRC were yet not finalised.

Protesters smell a rat behind the whole exercise.

Source said that the number of candidates qualifying for the post of PST was 3,600 and 3,100 among them had additional educational degrees to qualify for the seat.

The candidates securing 60 per cent marks have been protesting for months to press the education department to issue them job offer letters.Dawn