QUETTA: Balochistan Education Department has terminated more than 800 illegal teachers in the province in an ongoing scrutiny, according to Balochistan Education Secretary Saboor Kakar.

While talking to Dawn.com, Kakar said, “Ghost teachers had been drawing salaries from the national exchequer for the last few years.”

The government has also launched a process to verify documents and appointment orders of all teachers working in the province, said the education secretary, adding that in the past, a large number of fake and ghost teachers had succeeded in cementing ties with officers in the education department.

“An inquiry is already underway against officers responsible for payment of salaries to these fake teachers,” Kakar said.

“We have removed their names from our lists rather than terminating them. Since they were never appointed to begin with, we have simply removed their names,” he said.

The education department had already formed an inquiry committee in Quetta and other districts of the province to expose fake and ghost teachers and take action against them. The education secretary said that of the 800 illegal teachers that have been removed, 112 belonged to Quetta— the provincial capital. “Salaries will be recovered from the officers responsible for fake appointments,” Kakar said.

The provincial government has declared emergency with regards to education and announced implementation of article 25-a of the Constitution, which says the state “shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to sixteen years in such manner as may be determined by law.”

Kakar said for the first time in the history of Balochistan, around 24 per cent of the provincial budget had been allocated for the education sector.

But he maintains a major part of these funds were being spent on non-development areas rather than development of the education sector.