The Future of Bakhtawar Cadet College for Girls Nawabshah

What the future holds for Bakhtawar Cadet College for Girls, Nawabshah, only time will tell. Till then one can only hope for the best as the life and future of little girls are in the hands of the people managing the institute.

Hats off to Balktawar Bhutto Zardari for taking the initiative and starting the first cadet college for girls in Pakistan. Certainly, history is made, and as long as the college is there, her name will be remembered. Bravo, brave daughter of a brave mother!

A much-needed cadet college for girls has been started in Nawabshah at the right time. The vision of every cadet college is to train young minds to become future leaders of a nation. Well, just having a vision is not enough, the management that is responsible for carrying out and implementing the strategies to reach the desired goals and results matters the most. The people running this institute daily, such as the principal, vice principal, faculty, etc., are now responsible for giving this cadet college the desired shape.

I have over seventeen years of work experience, of which 5 to 6 years are related to different educational fields. I have been part of a pioneering team and have been part of the management. I very well know how the institutes struggle, how they succeed, and how they fail.

To ensure that every effort is successful, a selfless team that will work honestly, sincerely, and tirelessly day and night is required. The most valuable and lovely job is teaching, especially when one realizes that they are in charge of their future. You will be involved in their success or failure.

However, I am not entirely sure about Bakhtawar Cadet College for Girls. I have grounds to think that, whether on purpose or accidentally, this college’s management has slipped into the wrong hands.

For the vice principal position that was open, hundreds of applications were submitted; the deadline for receiving them was July 18, 201^6. The cadet college provides housing for its employees, including separate family housing and a hostel for single people. Therefore, being single was not a requirement for the position, nor was it stated in the published advertisement that only single women are qualified for the vice principal position.

Upon submitting my application, I was the only applicant for this position and made it to the shortlist for an interview. November is when I received the call for the interview. I told them before the interview that I was getting married soon and that, should I be hired, I would require family housing. When it was all over, they assured me that, should I be chosen, I would receive the family accommodation. I was almost chosen for the position after being suggested, as I was the more qualified candidate with experience. I was the most qualified applicant out of all of them, the principal himself stated.

I got married in January of the first year, and a few days later, the principal called to ask if I would be interested in joining. I said that I would be more than happy to. Then he inquired as to whether or not I had tied the knot. I told him I was a married woman. After hearing this, he began to interrogate me, telling me that because I was married, I would not be able to devote enough time to my work and that my priorities had changed. Married women have these problems and those kinds of problems, he said, confusing me over the phone. I responded, “I have my husband’s full support and I will come with full dedication and sincerity.” From July 18, 2016, the deadline for applications, until May 1, when college started, I felt completely bewildered and unqualified to get married. The fact that being married is not a crime and that the position was exclusively for single women was something I brought up with the principal. In any case, he said that they have now found a single person who is coming from a higher source and will not have to worry about her husband or her house. Additionally, he stated that the board of directors had forwarded her application and that she would be spending 24 hours a day at the college. In response, I questioned, “Will you fire her if she gets married?” “No, she has stated that she will not get married as she is in her forties and blah blah blah,” was the response I received.

Thus, this is the process by which a qualified and nearly selected candidate is eliminated. If all applications must be submitted through sources where qualifications and experience are irrelevant and merit is the only factor that counts, what purpose did publishing the job announcement serve? Later, I learned from a source that the principal had nominated his former girlfriend, who was widowed, for the position. She will most definitely give 24 hours of dedicated time and she will most definitely not get married right away.

I hope she is qualified and competent as well. When personal means get in the way, institutes fall. People at Nawabshah have already heard the story that the principal has appointed his ex-girlfriend. I hope it is all wrong. After all, it’s the life and future of little girls at stake. What kind of environment will these 8th graders be receiving? What kind of future, what kind of message and what kind of leaders is this Cadet College hoping to produce?

It’s never too late to open up eyes, things can be changed and corrections made. Please do not corrupt the education of this nation. Do not kill the dreams of little girls. They are too young; they don’t know what’s right and wrong. They will only know what is being instilled in their minds. Please have mercy, for Allah’s sake.

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