RAWALPINDI, July 22: Colleges, both for boys and girls, have been hit hard by the shortage of teaching staff as more than half of the sanctioned posts in Rawalpindi district’s 33 educational institutions are lying vacant for the last many years.

According to an official document available with Dawn, there are nine degree colleges for boys and 24 for girls in the district run by the Punjab government.

For the boys’ institutions, 364 posts of lecturers and professors have been sanctioned, but 187 seats are lying vacant. The situation of the girls’ colleges is more precarious, as 219 of the total 380 posts remain unfilled.

Last regular inductions of teaching staff were made in 1994 and since then only a few new appointments have been made on contract basis.

Many contract lecturers opt out of the job as soon as they find a permanent position, a college teacher told this reporter on the condition of anonymity.

According to available information, the subject of physical education has virtually been abolished in the district as no instructor is available, though there are many sanctioned posts.

In the absence of qualified physical trainer, the scope of sports is also on the wane in Rawalpindi.

The situation of optional subjects such as zoology, statistics, journalism, social works, Persian and computer sciences is not different from that of physical education.

There is no regular computer teacher in any college in the whole Rawalpindi division. Many colleges even in Rawalpindi city have stopped offering zoology, statistics and journalism as an option for the interested students.

The situation of compulsory subjects such as Urdu and English is also not much better. In Hashmat Ali College, the only Urdu lecturer was transferred in 1997 and since then no one has been appointed.

In Asghar Mall Boys College, there are only two Urdu teachers against the sanctioned six seats. In some colleges there is only one lecturer of English despite the fact that many such posts are available.

Interestingly, there is no librarian in any college of Gujar Khan, Taxila and Murree, and other non-teaching staff is also short of required strength.

The enrolment of the students in the Punjab government colleges in Rawalpindi is also decreasing owing to the dearth of the teachers.

The colleges have minimised the options for the students, who then take admission in private colleges to study professional subjects such as commerce and computers.

There are even no district officers (DO) colleges in Rawalpindi, Chakwal and Jhelum for the last many days to look after the administrative matters of the colleges in the districts.

The acting district officer could not be contacted for his comments, whereas the executive district officer (EDO) education claimed he had nothing do with the administrative affairs of the colleges.