GILGIT, Oct 12: The Minister for Education Dr Ali Madad Sher has said the government of Gilgit-Baltistan has approved a plan in principal to address the shortage of teachers in the region and improve quality of education.

Talking to Dawn here on Friday the minister said more than 1,000 vacancies of teachers were being created, which would be approved in the cabinet meeting.

The minister said these teachers would be inducted mostly in schools constructed or upgraded, adding the measure was also aimed at gaining support of the voters.

Mr Sher said hundreds of such schools had enrolled thousands of students but could not provide them teaching facilities because of lack of teachers.

The minister said the whole process of posting teachers to these schools would be completed by end of the first month of 2013.

He also disclosed that a ban had been imposed on construction of new school buildings until these were provided with teachers. He claimed that a new mechanism had been devised to ensure that funds were utilised on projects beneficial to public.

CAR-LIFTING: The anti-car lifting cell of the excise and taxation department is setting up a state of the art laboratory to examine the chassis numbers of the vehicles so that stolen, tampered and smuggled vehicles could easily be traced.

A senior official said the laboratory would facilitate smooth and transparent examination of vehicles. He said the project had already been approved and now funds for its execution were being provided by the government.