KARACHI, March 31: A number of decisions relating to promotions, move-overs, appointments and transfers of lecturers were taken on Friday in a meeting between the chief secretary and a delegation of the Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association.

The Secretary, Education, Ghulam Ali Pasha, Secretary Services Abdul Qadir Mangi, Special Secretary for Finance Soaib Siddiqui, and EDO Higher Education Prof Dr Rafique Ahmed Siddiqui attended the meeting.

The SPLA delegation consisted of Prof Riaz Ahsan, Prof Liaquat Aziz Solangi, Prof Agha Khalid Pathan, Manzoor Hussain Chishti, Shafquat Hussain Jokhio, Muhsin Raza Bhatti, Siddique Unnar and others.

The delegation apprised the chief secretary about the unrest among 7,000 college teachers due to a host of problems.

The Chief Secretary, Fazalur Rehman, advised the SPLA leaders to adopt dialogue as the way to resolve issues instead of resorting to agitation.

The delegation, however, held the bureaucrats in the education department responsible for such a state of affairs, blaming them for corruption and administrative inefficiency.

The meeting decided that the promotions of college teachers would be done according to the 4:2 tier formula and pending promotions and move-overs would soon be finalized, while the process of appointing teaching and non-teaching staff at 17 new and 12 old colleges would be started soon.

It also decided that all arrears of college teachers would be paid within a month, and that the extension in employment period for another six months to ad hoc college teachers would be notified in a week.

The meeting said that further reduction in the transfer period of lecturers appointed in 2002 would be considered, and that the seniority list of all college teachers would be issued in a month.

Other decisions included urgent steps for appointing principals in colleges on permanent basis; cancellation of transfer orders issued for victimization; and reactivation of college teachers’ academy for training of teachers.—PPI