Appointment of male teacher as principal at girls' college stirs controversy

Negating its tall claim of promoting girls' education and giving them their due rights and respect in the society, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government crossed all limits of decency by imposing a political favourite male assistant professor as principal for a girls' degree college in Chitral.

The provincial government has issued notification for the appointment of Muhammad Dost - an assistant professor - on the request of Sardar Hussain, a PPP MPA for upper Chitral, to take over as principal Government Girls Degree College, Booni. The newly-appointed male principal, who is upbeat about his new appointment, told this correspondent that this was not anything new to be surprised about as some male teachers had already served at the same college.

But the locals of the area rejected the plea taken by the male principal, saying the male teachers whom Muhammad Dost is trying to use as a shield to substantiate his appointment for reasons best known to him carried no weight. They said that the male teachers of a nearby college (the government degree college for boys, Booni) took casual classes only when the girls' college just started functioning some years back.

"The male teachers whom he (Muahmmad Dost) claims had set the precedent carries no weight as the male teachers only took classes as volunteers...if this had been the case we would have shut it down as this is not acceptable. What's the use of calling a girls college if you are unable to arrange female staff for it," the locals maintained. They also said that if the government is unable to appoint a female principal, it should shut down the so-called girls' college, as there already exists a boy's degree college at the radius of about half a kilometer.

The new male principal, who has been hand-picked for the first time by any government to head a girls' college, took an interesting but a childish plea that he was motivated by Sardar Hussain MPA to take charge so that he could also look after some construction work underway in the college premises.

When questioned the newly-appointed male head of a purely female college seemed a bit angry that there are scores of privately run colleges where there is co-education. When he was reminded that he is going to head a government institution especially set up for girls, he said Chitrali society had accepted male teachers in schools where girls are studying alongside the boys.

The sources close to MPA Sardar Hussain said that he was the man behind the appointment of Muhammad Dost to protect his vested interests. They said that the liberal MPA laughed out loudly while cracking jokes with some of his close friends, saying 'what he has done had not been done' by any MPA as some months back he appointed a female Xen for C&W department Chitral and now a male principal for girls college.

This shows the myopia of the lawmaker who prefers females for corrupt departments like C&W while males for girls' educational institutions - a glaring example of ignorance, illiteracy and backwardness that shows how much we respect our females. Despite repeated attempts, Mushtaq Ghani, provincial minister for information and broadcasting who also looks after the Higher Education Commission (HEC) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, was not available for comments.

The MPA also could not be reached for comment. The deputy commissioner Chitral Aminul Haq said that he had not yet received any complaint against the appointment of the male principal at the girls' college. He assured to take action over the controversial appointment if approached by the people of the area. The people of the area appealed PTI chairman Imran Khan to take notice of what they called 'humiliation of women folk' by appointing a male principal at a girls' college. They also threatened to take to the streets if the newly-appointed gentleman was not shown the door as early as possible as his appointment is against the law and the very manifesto of PTI.

Source: Business Recorder, 26 Feb 2015