Double shift at BIEK gives rise to corruption

The decision of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Karachi (BIEK), to allow its employees to enjoy the benefit of double salaries at the expense of the provincial government has not only affected their performance but has also resulted in increase in corruption at the Board office.
The administration of BIEK has started second shift and is entertaining many of its employees by providing them with the benefit of double salary for sharing workload. Now, many officers of the Board come late in their offices or remain absent during morning shift, which is causing difficulties for thousands of visiting students for resolving their issues, sources told Business Recorder on Monday.
"The board office is working without a proper attendance system, and majority of the employees mark their presence on the attendance register at the end of every month for drawing monthly salaries from the provincial education department," they said, adding that the board administration has completely failed to maintain discipline inside the premises of the Intermediate Board office.
Sources said that the ratio of corrupt practices at the board office increased after the start of second shift, and a large number of candidates visit the board office for settling their disputes through illegal means. Many corrupt officers call the visiting students in evening shift for minting money from them to move their cases rapidly to the authorities concerned, they added.
They said that like blue-eyed officials, other employees are also pressurising the board administration to allow them to enjoy the advantage of double salaries or to root out the new system for creating a sense of equality among the distrust employees. The indiscriminate attitude of the current administration towards other employees is producing a sense of insecurity among them, sources said.
"Before the start of new double salary system, the board was performing its functions perfectly well, but the new system has created laziness among the workers and resulted in increase in corruption cases," they said, adding that "the system has provided an opportunity to the criminal elements to resolve their problems at gun point due to lack of proper security system during evening shift."
However, the chairman of BIEK, Anwar Ahmed Zai, rejected the allegations and said that the board administration has kept a vigilant eye on its employees to maintain discipline and to end corruption from the board office. "The board has taken stringent security measures for providing sense of security to its employees," he clarified.