BREAKING NEWS
(Elementary
Secondary and Higher Secondary)
DIRECTOR: MS FARNAZ RIAZ
KARACHI:
A female director of School Education (Elementary Secondary and Higher
Secondary) Department, who was verbally threatened and faced physical abuse in
her office allegedly by a subordinate, has lodged an official complaint with
the provincial Ombudsman of Protection Against Harassment of Women at the
Workplace.
The Director of Schools,
Farnaz Riaz, accused District Education Officer (DEO) East Yar Mohammed Baladi
of hurling death threats and attacking her physically in her written complaint
to the ombudsman.
She stated that Mr Baladi
stormed into her office on the afternoon of Oct 21 with armed officials of the
Sindh police to inquire about the case of the daughter of a police officer who
had taken the Sukkur IBA test for the post of teachers.
She said that she called
the dealing clerk, Atif Solangi, regarding the file to be informed by him that
the file was in the process of scrutiny and signing. That’s when Baladi started
shouting and using inappropriate language in the presence of two deputy directors,
Abdul Jabar Dayo and Musharraf Ali. He threatened the dealing clerk of serious
consequences while dropping the name of the police officer whose daughter’s
file he had come looking for.
Ms Riaz wrote that she
tolerated Baladi for a while before intervening and asking him to behave
himself. But that act turned him to her. “He started shouting at me. He even
got up from his chair to hit me only to be stopped by one of my deputy
directors. His shouting also brought in one more eyewitness, Shahjahan, another
clerk, to see what was going on,” she wrote.
“Everyone heard Baladi’s
openly threatening to kill me. His ill conduct falls under the definition of
insubordination and misconduct as per the Sindh Civil Servant Act, Rule 1973
and the Sindh Act of Physical Harassment at the Workplace,” she has pointed out
in her complaint, requesting necessary action initiated against him to protect
her from physical harassment.
She has also requested the
ombudsman to order the lodging of an FIR in this regard while also instructing
the Sindh chief secretary to initiate disciplinary proceedings against him.
Speaking to Dawn, Ms Riaz
said: “There are 12 directors in the School Education Department and of them
only two, including myself, are female. This kind of behaviour is unacceptable.
Women should come forward to point out such troublemakers in our society, which
is what I have done also. I couldn’t take Baladi’s open threats lightly.”
Meanwhile, Mr Baladi told
the media that he was only in the office of the director of schools to inquire
about the case of the daughter of an SSP whose process of recruitment had been
completed. He said that nothing else happened and he abused no one.
Published in Dawn, October
27th, 2022
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