LAHORE, Jan 9: Punjab Education Minister Imran Masood said on Friday that the government was considering to relax rules to recruit teachers and upgrade and establish schools.

The rules would have to be relaxed because the government could not find the people of its required qualification during the recent recruitment of teachers. Similarly, it was required to the change the criterion for educational institutions as there was not much land available to fulfil official requirement for establishing new or upgrading the existing schools, he informed the Punjab Assembly during a question hour.

The minister said a summary had been moved to the chief minister for approval. "We want to create a balance, he said, admitting that 4,000 schools in the province were without any staff.

His attention was drawn towards the issue by a treasury member and presiding Deputy Speaker Sardar Shaukat Mazari. They said the criterion for the upgradation and establishment of schools in Southern Punjab was different from central Punjab.

Mr Mazari asked the minister to consider the policy for the establishment of new schools which the members would demand in their areas. None of the applicants in his hometown Rujhan was selected as a teacher, he said while hinting at the merit policy of the government.

Earlier, the opposition again tried to puzzle the minister by asking him to admit that his department had been devolved to the district governments, leaving nothing for him to do at the provincial level. He escaped by saying that the province still controlled education institutions in districts through their budget.