July 01, 2007	Sunday	Jamadi-us-Sani 15, 1428

LAHORE, June 30: The University of Education (UoE) is faced with shortage of qualified teachers owing to expansion at higher education level, Vice Chancellor Dr Munawar S Mirza said at the convocation of the university on Saturday.

Speaking at the UoE’s auditorium at its Bank Road campus on Saturday, she said buildings of most of the UoE’s campuses were old and there was a need of more funds against the sanctioned Rs120 million. The UoE has 11 campuses across the province.

She said libraries were needed at each campus and the university would soon submit a plan to the Higher Education Commission for funds to establish digital and electronically advanced libraries.

She demanded that the government give endowment funds to launch scholarships to attract talented candidates to teaching.

Addressing the convocation, Governor Khalid Maqbool said thousands of teachers should be recruited to impart good quality education to increase the literacy rate from 62 per cent to 90 per cent.

The governor said he had asked position holders of UoE why good quality teachers were not coming up. He said the position holders said the teachers’ low salaries were the main hurdle in attracting people to the profession.

He said the government wanted to draw talented people in teaching and for this the government would offer scholarships.

The governor said the government provided funds to the university and now it should produce teachers, who have full command on their subjects, understand students’ psyche and know techniques to impart quality education to their pupils.

“The teachers churned out by universities must be sought after not only in Pakistan but all over the region,” he said.

He suggested teachers be assessed, evaluated and certified on annual basis.

“If the government does not ask for accountability, quality of teaching will be compromised,” he said. He said good teachers were earning hundreds of thousands in the private sector.

He said the government would make UoE’s Okara campus its main campus and also fund its other 11 campuses to transform them into mini-universities. Mr Maqbool and Punjab Education Minister Mian Imran Masood presented medals to outstanding students.