LAHORE: Punjab Education Minister Rana Mashhud says the government will demolish and reconstruct the school buildings declared dangerous in surveys.

He was responding to a query by MPA Tariq Mahmood during the Question Hour in the Punjab Assembly on Tuesday. Work on 50 per cent of the dangerous buildings would be undertaken in this year and the remaining the next year, he added.

To a question by Dr Nosheen Hamid, he said action against the educators showing poor results was being taken under PEEDA (Punjab employees, efficiency, discipline and accountability) Act.

He said one-year service of the Faisalabad school headmaster, whose performance was pointed out by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf MPA, had been forfeited.

The MPA said the grade-16 employee had been holding a grade-18 post for the last four years and despite action against him under PEEDA, the official in question had not been removed.

The minister said that an independent inquiry panel was investigating into the issue and its recommendations would be followed.

Under the act, he said, action had been taken against 19,000 teachers showing poor results.

PPP’s Faiza Malik raised a question about the handing over of schools to the Care Foundation. The minister admitted that the Foundation was paying just a Rs4,000 salary to its staff, a violation of the minimum wages law.

Ms Malik alleged the non-government organisation (NGO) was facing corruption charges but was given a clean bill of health by a house committee of the previous assembly.

The chair as well as the minister chided her for showing no trust in the house committee as Mr Mashhud offered setting up a sub-committee to probe the charges. Speaker Rana Iqbal, however, showed no interest.

The minister said that the department was monitoring the working of NGOs which had adopted state-run schools. He was all praise for the public-private partnership model, saying the studies supported this model the world over.

Also, the house adopted four resolutions. The first was about the institution of the Water and Sanitation Authority in Bahawalpur and moved by Jamaat-i-Islami’s Dr Waseem Akhtar. MPA Faiza Mushtaq sought introduction of ramps in public transport for the people with disabilities.

Manazir Ranjha demanded lining of the west bank of the Chenab River in Sargodha to save Miana, Hazara and Takht Hazara from the river erosion.

The fourth resolution, by Ahmed Khan Bachhar, was about weekly cleaning of drains during rainy seasons.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2016