Iqbal Hussain Bacha, who heads the Malakand division as commissioner, has directed authorities to take tough steps against ghost employees in Dir and Bajaur, targeting staff who draw government pay without working and teachers or health workers who stay away from their posts. The orders cover the education and health departments, and in Lower Dir they have already led to a formal instruction to schools. Officials in Bajaur say they are preparing lists of such staff.
Lower Dir orders principals to act
On Friday, district education officer Mushtaq Ahmad issued a notification to male and female principals, deputy district education officers and assistant sub-divisional education officers, known as ASDEOs. It told them to cancel staff detailing, a form of temporary posting, along with need-based transfers, and to check attendance at their schools without delay. Heads who fail to comply face departmental action, the notice warned.
The instructions followed a meeting chaired by the commissioner and attended by deputy commissioners, district education and health officers, medical superintendents and heads of monitoring bodies from across the division. According to sources at the meeting, the commissioner pointed out that close to 70 per cent of the provincial budget goes to education and health, and asked for a results-focused approach so that public money reaches patients and pupils. He also announced zero tolerance for teacher absenteeism and ghost employees. Principals are now personally answerable for daily attendance, and an ASDEO who sees a principal failing to act against an absent teacher must start proceedings against that principal. ASDEOs have been told to visit schools regularly rather than stay in their offices.
Bajaur begins compiling staff lists
Sources said authorities in Bajaur have decided to act against ghost employees and staff who have not attended duty for long periods in the education and health departments. The decision followed instructions issued the previous day by deputy commissioner Adnan Farid Afridi to the heads of both departments, after he took notice of reports that several employees were either long-term absentees or did not exist at all. One source said both departments have started drawing up lists of such employees.
The same sources said most of those under scrutiny are lower-grade staff and teachers, and that many belong to influential families. These details have not been confirmed on the record. No official record was immediately available showing the exact number of ghost and long-term absent employees.
What happens next
In Lower Dir, principals must now submit certificates confirming that no ghost employee is working at their schools. Deputy district education officers will send daily attendance and monitoring reports to their district education officers so that irregularities can be acted on quickly. In Bajaur, the lists are still being compiled, and no timeline has been announced for finishing them or for any disciplinary decisions. The coming weeks will show whether the attendance checks change what happens in classrooms and clinics.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Malakand division ke commissioner ne Lower Dir aur Bajaur mein education aur health ke mahkamon mein ghost employees aur ghair hazir staff ke khilaf sakht karwai ka hukm diya hai. Lower Dir mein principals ko roz ki hazri check karni hogi aur likhit tasdeeq deni hogi ke unke school mein koi ghost employee kaam nahi karta. Bajaur mein dono mahkamon ne aise logon ki fehrist banana shuru kar di hai. Aam logon ke liye iska matlab hai ke school aur clinic mein staff ki hazri behtar ho sakti hai, lekin tadad abhi maloom nahi.
