The cash-strapped Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Tuesday approved the upgrading of more than 130,000 teachers at an annual cost of several billion rupees during the ‘last’ cabinet meeting before the dissolution of the provincial assembly.
Mahmood Khan, the chief minister, presided over a meeting of the cabinet, which also included ministers and administrative secretaries. Following the cabinet meeting, government spokesman Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif told reporters that 23 issues on the agenda were covered. Primary and secondary education minister Shahram Khan Tarakai reported that the proposed promotion of teachers from different cadres was considered by the cabinet.
“We [government] fulfilled our promise made to primary teachers by upgrading their basic grade from BPS-12 to BPS-14. The initiative will benefit 51,736 teachers across the province,” he said.
The minister added that starting in July of next year, 18,000 BPS-14 teachers would move up to BPS-15 and the grade of BPS-12 teachers to BPS-14. He declared that the 21,300 teachers in grade BPS-15 will be elevated to grade BPS-16.
According to Mr. Tarakai, the cabinet also approved grading 22,000 secondary school teachers from BPS-16 to BPS-17 beginning with the following fiscal year. The four-tier system was also approved for the teachers working in BPS-18, 19, and 20, a decision that would likely help 14,000 employees working in educational institutions. The upgrade of the CT teachers from BPS-15 to BPS-16, according to the minister, was also approved by the cabinet.
“Those serving on the CT posts will be upgraded to BPS-16 on July 1, 2023. However, the number of those teachers will be shared later,” he said.
The provincial exchequer was projected to face annual expenses of more than Rs2 billion alone for the upgrade of SSTs and PSTs. In addition to this, there were expenses related to CT upgrades and the four-tier scheme for people in BPS-18 and higher.
Cabinet also gave the Peshawar Press Club, Swat Press Club, and Nowshera Press Club one-time monetary grants totaling Rs. 50 million, Rs. 20 million, and Rs. 5 million, according to Mr. Saif.
In a similar vein, he said that the cabinet had also approved the creation of the District Committees on the Status of Women (DCSW), which would be led by women, including two elected women councilors as members, and seek to improve the lives of women while also addressing their issues.
The provincial policy on urban forestry was also approved by the cabinet, along with a grant of Rs 5 million for the Umeed Special Education School’s Annual Sustenance Fund for the current fiscal year.
The cabinet also approved the transfer of three canals of land for the construction of a Rescue 1122 station at Mouza Kakki-I in the Kakki tehsil of the Bannu district, stating that the facility will aid in providing rapid relief to the populace during natural disasters and emergency circumstances.
Similarly to this, the cabinet lowered the age requirement for 77 police assistant sub-inspectors who were chosen four years ago by the Public Service Commission. The cabinet also resolved to allocate Rs180 million from an additional budget to armor 20 vehicles in each of the province’s critical areas. It approved the Diseases Control Act, 2022, and KP Animals Welfare Act, 2022, to protect the livestock from diseases as well as the Rs19.414 billion annual budget of the Pakhtunkhwa Highways Authority for the construction of highways.
