LAHORE: The Punjab Higher Education Department (PHED) has failed to appoint regular principals in 270 colleges and the lapse is creating academic and administrative issues.

Earlier, the government had announced that it would fill the 130 positions of the principals in the province under its 100-day agenda and sought applications. The candidates could submit their applications to the Director Colleges of their respective divisions and the department will post the lists of the applicants after conducting scrutiny on its website.

The department is working to establish a portal of principals and other teachers of the colleges and it will also provide the details of the teachers on it.

There are around 700 colleges including 116 of commerce in the province and 270 of these have been working without regular principals.

Higher Education Minister Raja Hamayun Yasir Sarfraz had recently visited the Government Post Graduate College, Chakwal, and found several issues. A report prepared about the visit showed that the main entrance of the college was blocked by long grass and bushes and there was no college map, clean water and proper toilet.

“There is filthy environment in the college whose classrooms remain covered with dust and cobwebs... The IT lab was locked as were many other rooms and laboratories. Furniture was not placed in a proper manner and portraying a picture of bad management,” says the report.

The minister also found encroachment and there were complaints against the principal.

Meanwhile, the PHED is yet to appoint the chairmen of boards of intermediate and secondary education in Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Sargodha, Sahiwal, Multan and Bahawalpur.

Punjab Professors and Lecturers Association President Hafiz Abdul Khaliq told Dawn that the government had conducted a meeting to discuss ban on the college teachers working in private academies and other institutions. He said the government could stop the teachers from giving tuition and running private academies during working hours but it would be unjust if the government stopped them after working hours.

He said the positions of the principals in colleges had been vacant because many senior professors had retired. The government should appoint principals in the colleges soon because it was creating several academic and administrative issues, he demanded.

Director Public Instructions (Colleges) Punjab Nasrullah Virk told Dawn that they had received panels from colleges for the posts of principals and would conduct their interviews next week. “We had recently conducted interviews for the posts of director and deputy director colleges for the nine divisions of the province and will soon issue appointment letters,” he said.

He also said the summary of candidates for the posts of directors and deputy directors had been forwarded to the department. He said they were also working to provide the missing facilities in the colleges and establishing laboratories.

The higher education minister said work was being done to fill the vacancies in the colleges. He said advertisements for the posts of chairmen of the education boards had been published and the process was under way.

As for the posts of principals, he said interviews of teachers were being conducted.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2018