Educationist rejects NAB inquiry report

MARDAN: Education Council Chairman Hafiz Muhammad Zubair has rejected a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) inquiry report, describing it as an attempt to defame the integrity of teachers.

“The names of the principal, focal person, and other responsible individuals were included without any proper investigation,” Zubair said in a statement.A representative delegation from the School Officers Association (SoA), Management Cadre Association (MCA), and Education Council Mardan met with District Education Officer (DEO) Zahid Muhammad to express their concerns. They condemned the inclusion of school heads, focal persons, and teachers in charge of Free Textbooks in the NAB inquiry report, which accused them of irregularities in the supply and demand of free textbooks and collecting money from teachers.

Hafiz Zubair stated that the allegations were part of a conspiracy to damage the reputation of teachers. He warned that if any individual from Mardan district was implicated without proper investigation and evidence, the SOA, Education Council Mardan, and MCA would seek legal recourse and refuse to cooperate with the DEO office until those accused are proven innocent.

Zubair pointed out that records of free textbooks were available in every school, and there was no evidence of irregularities in the District Focal Person’s records. He condemned the allegations of corruption against teachers.

The delegation also questioned why the DEOs’ meeting in late June was convened without informing the secretary education, director education, and other relevant officials.The delegation argued that no school records were reviewed in Mardan regarding the FTB inquiry, and no investigation was conducted before issuing recovery orders against the accused. They demanded that the education department authorities clarify why the investigation has been ongoing for seven years without checking the records of a single school.