LAHORE, Sept 25: The Punjab education department has notified integration of all the education and elementary teachers colleges, Directorate of Staff Development (DSD), Provincial Institute of Teachers Education (PITE) and Provincial Education Assessment Centre (PEAC) with the University of Education.

With this notification, all rights, properties, assets and liabilities vested in the integrated institutions will now become the rights, properties, assets and liabilities of the new university.

The notification also says that all those serving in the integrated institutions, in any capacity, shall stand transferred (for service) under the University of Education on such terms and conditions as the government may determine. The notification also says that the new terms and conditions shall not be less favourable than those admissible to them immediately before their transfer to the university.

Meanwhile, the Punjab Professors and Lecturers Association condemned the issuance of the notification which will privatize the 36 government colleges of elementary teachers and six government colleges of education in the province.

In a meeting with the principals of all the elementary colleges at the University of Education committee room on Wednesday, joint action committee teachers chairman Nazim Hasnain said the notification had also made the DSD, PITE and PEAC directly subordinate to the University of Education.

Subject specialists association president Malik Ehsan and other teachers’ leaders Azam Butt and Rasheed Qayyum said they would strongly resist the government’s ‘anti-education’ policies.

Later, the elementary colleges teachers unanimously passed a resolution that the existing status of elementary and education colleges should be retained. They suggested that the government should not integrate but affiliate these institutions with the University of Education.