Daily Times

Newly inducted Schools Education Minister Dr Murad Rass held the former government and former education minister responsible for all the failures of education sector in Punjab.

While addressing the first meeting after taking charge as Minister School Education on Wednesday, Murad observed that he continued pointing out the missing facilities specially furniture in schools in last five years. He said that 587 schools are facing shortage of furniture whereas 72 schools of Lahore are facing missing facilities.

Murad Rass observed that if there will be need to spent Rs 100 billion on dilapidated buildings of schools, he will spent without any hesitation. Rass further said that every officer and employee of SED will be held accountable and they should prepare themselves.

School Education Minister has also summoned division officers from all districts for discussing the issues in education sector.

On the other hand, Punjab Teacher’s Union (PTU) has demanded Minister Dr Murad Rass to review the policies and steps taken by previous government.

Secretary General PTU Kashif Shehzad said that there are number of issues in SED as the teachers were affected more than anyone else. Shehzad pointed out that teachers who performed duties in the annual examination of Class 5th and Class 8th are still waiting for stipend even after six months. He demanded Minister to order Punjab Examination Commission (PEC) to release the stipend of teachers who are already facing severe condition in Punjab. This act would end uncertainty among teachers across the province, he said.

The PTU general secretary went on saying that in the last two years, political transfer posting was at its peak as bureaucracy has imposed an unannounced ban on transfer posting. This act is adding to the miseries of teachers, he said adding that thousands of male and female teachers have to travel more than 100 kilometres a day to perform their duties.

Published in Daily Times, August 30^th 2018.