04 December 2004	Saturday	21 Shawwal 1425

KARACHI, Dec 3: The city government has advised principals of the colleges established during the last three years to fulfil their long-pending teaching requirement through hiring of cooperative teachers against a lump sum monthly stipend.

According to sources in the city government's education department, teaching at 28 newly-established colleges in the city has remarkably been hampered as government failed in appointing or posting lecturers.

It has now been decided that the requirement be met out either by hiring cooperative teachers, as permissible under the Sindh government's rules, or by allowing voluntary teaching.

A principal/in-charge of a college is authorized to engage at least six teachers for one faculty. A college running academic programmes in two faculties can hire eight-10 cooperative teachers, added a source.

Last year, too, a crisis of posting or appointments of permanent lecturers at colleges was largely felt as the city government continued establishing new colleges in order to overcome the inherited admission problems.

The then education minister had claimed that the situation would be rectified soon as his department was already in the process of appointing 750 lecturers on contract basis for colleges throughout the province.

However, his stated plan is yet to be materialized. Moreover, the city government got a lacklustre response when it tried to reassign some lectures of the existing colleges for the newly-established colleges.

Teachers generally found it uncomfortable to work for the newly-established colleges under any adjustment scheme, confided other sources, and observed that things were so much interconnected and deep-rooted that one could not think even about the long-needed rationalization of faculty at colleges in Sindh.

Last year, keeping in view the spirit of literate and qualified men and women, City Nazim Niamatullah Khan approved the scheme of posting volunteers desiring to teach at the new colleges without seeking any remuneration.

However, at some later stage, a good number of volunteers started demanding remuneration, claiming that they worked at colleges more than the agreed period, i.e. four months.

Like the practices in the past, the principals of new colleges, too, can hire services of qualified teachers for a maximum of 8-month period in a year by paying them from the fund made available to them.

Under the latest arrangements, approved by the city nazim as well, staff could be engaged as cooperative teachers at the 28 new colleges, it is learnt. They can give preference to those who had worked as volunteers last years, said the source.

Since the new colleges have not been able to generate sufficient funds, special funds are being provided to them by the city government for the time being. The city nazim has approved special grant of Rs16 million for new colleges to ensure availability of essential facilities, like teachers, furniture and equipment, etc.

The EDO Higher Education has already asked principals to expedite the things. "I have been informed that the EDO Finance of the city government would be transferring the amount of the grant given by the city nazim for the cause of education. I can say that hiring of teachers for new colleges is around very much,'' said the EDO, Prof Rais Alvi, on Friday.

He said that the funds would be provided to colleges in question separately through cheques and the same would be utilized for hiring of teachers, furniture and other emergent purposes only with the approval, and on the discretion, of the respective college management committees.

However, there is still a lot needed to be done in the case of new colleges, including posting of non-teaching and laboratory staff, full fledged laboratories and computer facilities, besides creating an environment congenial to a smooth conduct of academic activities at colleges, said an educationist, stressing an early appointment of regular teaching and non-teaching staff to streamline things.