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LAHORE, March 22: The Punjab Chief Minister, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, pledged on Saturday that all the FC college teachers, who will be relieved by the new management after August this year, would be posted at various city colleges.
Talking to reporters after the 113th convocation of the Punjab University, he said the government was responsible to employ these teachers, assuring that no one would be posted outside Lahore. However, he said, there was no commitment that the new FC college management would retain the teachers for three years.
He also said the students, who are currently studying at the college, would continue their academic programmes without any change in curriculum and fee structure. However, he said, the new management would charge higher fees from the students, who would get admissions next year.
According to the chief minister, the FC College had been returned to the Presbyterian Church on the orders of the Supreme Court. To a relevant question, he said the Punjab government would now return all the nationalized colleges to their owners, who took charge in 1972.
One of the prestigious institutions before nationalization, he regretted the FC college fell on hard times with the passage of time. He hoped that the church would invest on introducing modern disciplines, including Information Technology, and make the college comparable to reputed American institutions. He said the college would also strive to get affiliation with the top universities in the USA.
He dispelled the impression that the new management would preach Christianity, saying it was a propaganda aired by a group of people having vested interests.
Punjab Education Minister Mian Imran Masood, while responding to a question, said: “I had given a wrong statement that the FC college’s board of governors would have 50 per cent government officials.”
“Now it is the new management’s discretion to exercise authority while constituting BoGs,” he added.
To another question posed by the journalists, Mr Masood said the Punjab government was not planning to return the Gordon College, Rawalpindi, to the Presbyterian Church. “The Gordon College’s matter is a subjudice case,” he said.
TEACHERS’ REINSTATEMENT: While responding to a question, the Punjab chief minister said he had directed the chief secretary to decide the fate of seven sacked college teachers, the leaders of the Joint Action Committee for teachers, doctors and students. “No injustice will be done to any one of them,” he pledged.
MUJADDID COMMISSION REPORT: He said the government had prepared a policy on the basis of the Mujaddid Mirza Commission report. After the cabinet’s approval, he said a bill would be tabled in the Punjab Assembly for open debate and legislation.
MUO: On the implementation of the Model University Ordinance at universities in the province, he said every law meant for the education sector’s improvement would be welcome in the Punjab.
Responding to the PU faculty’s gesture to give one-day salary to Iraqis, Mr Elahi said the Punjab government would follow the federal government to aid the people in Iraq. He, however, said the federal government had already flayed the US-led attack on Iraq.
