KP Acts Against Ghost Employees in Dir, Bajaur Schools
Authorities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have ordered strict action against ‘ghost’ employees and long-term absentees in the education and health departments of Lower Dir and Bajaur, in a fresh push to clean up payrolls that officials say drain public money while schools and clinics go understaffed.
Malakand division commissioner Iqbal Hussain Bacha issued the orders after a meeting with deputy commissioners, additional deputy commissioners, district education officers, medical superintendents, district health officers and education monitoring officials from across the division.
District education officer Mushtaq Ahmad on Friday issued a notification to all male and female principals, deputy district education officers and assistant sub-divisional education officers (ASDEOs) in Lower Dir, directing them to immediately cancel staff detailing and need-based transfers. The order warned of departmental action against school heads who failed to comply.
Ghost employees Dir Bajaur face zero tolerance
The commissioner announced a zero-tolerance policy towards teacher absenteeism and ghost employees — staff who draw salaries without ever showing up for work. School principals were made personally responsible for ensuring daily attendance. If a principal failed to act against an absent teacher, the relevant ASDEO would have to start departmental proceedings against the principal instead.
According to officials at the meeting, the commissioner noted that nearly 70 per cent of the provincial government’s budget was spent on education and health, and stressed that the spending had to translate into better services through a results-oriented approach.
To tighten monitoring, ASDEOs were directed to conduct regular field visits and inspect schools instead of remaining in their offices. Principals must now submit certificates confirming that no ghost employee works at their schools, while deputy district education officers will send daily attendance and monitoring reports up the chain so irregularities can be acted on quickly.
Bajaur compiles lists of absentees
In Bajaur, authorities decided to take strict action against ghost employees and staff absent from duty for long periods in both the education and health departments, sources said on Friday.
The decision followed instructions issued a day earlier by deputy commissioner Adnan Farid Afridi to the heads of both departments. The deputy commissioner took serious notice of reports that several employees were either long-term absentees or did not exist at all, and directed legal action against them.
A source told Dawn that both departments had begun compiling lists of ghost employees and chronic absentees. Most of the ghost and absentee staff were lower-grade employees and teachers, the source said, and a majority belonged to influential families. No exact number was immediately available.
Why ghost payrolls persist
Ghost employees are a long-running problem in Pakistan’s public sector, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is no exception. Posts are filled on paper — sometimes through political patronage — while the salaries are collected by someone who never reports for duty. The result is a double loss: public money spent, and classrooms and basic health units left without staff.
The orders in Dir and Bajaur try to break that cycle at the supervisory level. By making principals certify their staff lists and holding ASDEOs responsible for field checks, the administration is betting that personal accountability will succeed where periodic crackdowns have failed. Whether the lists now being compiled lead to actual removals — especially where influential families are involved — will be the real test.
Education governance in the province has faced pressure on several fronts. Citizens can track service delivery through the KP Citizen Portal app, while school funding strains elsewhere — from payment delays at Punjab’s PEIMA schools to unsafe school buildings in Sindh — show the scale of the challenge. Accountability drives have also touched other sectors, as seen in the crackdown on power-sector irregularities.
FAQs
What are ghost employees?
Ghost employees are people listed on a government department’s payroll who draw salaries without actually working. They may be entirely fictitious names or real people who never report for duty.
Which districts are affected by the KP ghost employees action?
The action covers Lower Dir in the Malakand division and Bajaur, targeting the education and health departments in both districts.
Who ordered the action against ghost employees?
Malakand division commissioner Iqbal Hussain Bacha ordered the action for Dir, while Bajaur deputy commissioner Adnan Farid Afridi issued the instructions for his district.
What happens to principals who don’t comply?
School principals who fail to cancel unauthorised transfers or act against absent teachers face departmental action, with ASDEOs required to initiate proceedings against them.
