LAHORE, June 11: The City District Government (CDG) is transferring 80 teachers from one city college to another to rationalize the strength of teaching staff in these colleges.

The CDG has reportedly finalized the transfer orders and is expected to notify the lecturers, assistant professors and associate professors concerned in a day or so. A majority of the teachers are women.

The rationalization of teachers' strength in different colleges also includes transfer of posts. It was learnt that the CDG had also identified surplus faculty members in colleges. For the time being however, the government has decided to keep them where they are.

These teachers will remain at the disposal of the city government and will be shifted to new government colleges. CDG officials say that none of these teachers will be transferred to another city.

The CDG was supposed to establish girls colleges in Wapda Town and Township during the current financial year, but it had not been able to do so. Regarding the mass transfer of college teachers, officials claimed that it was the first such exercise in a district in the history of Punjab.

They recalled that the Lahore CDG had also for the first time rationalized schoolteachers' strength by transferring 620 of them late last year. Regarding college teachers' transfers, the officials said the CDG had been receiving complaints that a limited number of teachers was available in colleges where the number of students was very high. Similarly, there were instances that the faculty strength was higher but the number of students quite limited.

Consequently, the CDG moved a summary with the Punjab chief minister for permission for the mass transfer of teachers, owing to the ban on transfers and postings. t was learnt that the CM had approved the summary and given a go-ahead to the CDG about a month ago. However, soon afterwards, the CM asked the CDG not to issue the orders, official sources said. They claimed that the city government was under tremendous pressure because most of the women teachers being transferred were wives of bureaucrats or other influential people.

Now, officials claimed, District Nazim Mian Amer Mahmood had himself approached the chief minister and sought his approval for rationalization of college teachers strength.

The final transfer orders are lying with the DCO, who is expected to issue them in a day or so. CDG officials said that no other district had so far tried to rationalize college teachers or schoolteachers' strength.

They claimed that when the chief minister approved rationalization of schoolteachers' strength last year, he remarked that this practice should also be followed in other districts.