13 March 2004	Saturday	21 Muharram 1425

KARACHI, March 12: Sindh Education Minister Irfanullah Marwat said on Friday that his department will advertise about 5,000 non-teaching vacancies for recruitment in a fortnight.

Merit would be strictly observed in recruitment and there would be no quota at all, as this practice in the past had resulted into deterioration of educational and other institutions, he said while talking to a delegation of the All Pakistan Professors and Lecturers' Association, which met him at his office.

Mr Marwat informed the delegation that a summery pertaining to promotion of professors to grade-21 had been submitted to the chief minister for approval.

He told the delegation that the education department had also reduced the prices of textbooks and the private publishers would also be asked to bring down the prices of their books at the same level.

The delegation consisted of SPLA president Riaz Ahsan, Prof Siraj Ahmed Kakar from Balochistan and others.-PPI