ISLAMABAD - Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) has introduced courtesy rules for all the teachers, staff members and retired officials of every educational institution of Pakistan.
The letter issued by FDE to all head of institutions across Pakistan indicates that in order to make FDE an employee-friendly and a model educational directorate, a set of guidelines are introduced in the first phase of implementation of reforms initiatives. Therefore, further guidelines and protocols are also developed through this letter with the aim to nurture humanistic culture in educational institutions of the FDE.
Explaining the guidelines and protocols for the conduct of farewell ceremonies, the letter states that a courtesy committee shall be constituted/notified in each institution for the organisation of farewell ceremonies.
The committee shall organise farewell ceremonies for the officials concerned, on their superannuation. As an obligatory protocol, the outgoing employees shall also be presented souvenir with FDE’s emblem, flowers, a collective present (mandatory) and individual presents (optional).
In addition to this, a tree shall now be planted with the name plaque of outgoing official upon his/her superannuation. Each head of the institution shall depute a focal person from the staff members for the purpose of co-ordination with the accountant/ clerk to prepare documents/ case of the official concerned (90 days prior to the retirement) and head of each institution concerned shall be responsible for ensuring that all emoluments of each outgoing official are disbursed within 20 days after the date of his/her superannuation.
Accordingly, head of each institution concerned shall be required to ensure that the institution secures sufficient funds for the purpose of timely disbursement of pension and ancillary emoluments in the annual budget allocation for the respective year, under the relevant heads of account.
The courtesy committee of each institution shall also ensure to check upon the retired official frequently. In case of any health condition, the committee shall provide available facilities/ support to the official concerned, as and when required.
During hospitalisation, a bouquet shall be arranged by the respective institution while paying a courtesy visit to the official concerned. On-priority processing of any medical re-imbursements (as per entitlement) shall be the responsibility of the head of the respective institution. This shall ensure that concerned retired official or the family do not suffer due to any procedural complexities and all necessary support in this regard shall be provided by the office concerned i.e. FDE/AEO/head of the respective institution/ courtesy committee.
Apart from these, facilitation to the deceased officials has also been added in the reforms. In case of death of a retired or serving official, head of the respective institution and the courtesy committee shall ensure participation of fellow colleagues in the funeral prayers. Head of the respective institution and the courtesy committee shall check upon the needs of the deceased’s family and provide all such support including documentation/processing of cases, as and when required.
Head of the respective institution and courtesy committee shall ensure that all admissible cases are prepared and processed timely at the appropriate level i.e. FDE, AGPR or any other office concerned. The letter also states that the focal person along with the accountant/ clerk shall be responsible for timely preparation and processing of cases, whereas, head of the institution concerned shall ensure that all necessary support is extended for avoiding any suffering to the family of the deceased official.