KARACHI, Oct 11: Teaching activities in city colleges and schools, after a gap of three days, will return to normal on Saturday.

A senior official in the city government education department said that attendance in government run educational institutions was thin on Friday. Many of the teachers and non-teaching staff who were involved in election duties on October 10, failed to report to institutions, as they returned home late at night, and it was not possible for most of them to carry out teaching assignment befittingly on Friday.

In all, 35,000 teaching and non-teaching staff were engaged in election duties, while another pool of reserve staff was also stationed at different colleges in order to meet any eventuality. About 65 per cent of the election staff in Karachi were taken from the city government’s education department.

When contacted, the executive district officer (education), Prof Mohammad Rais Alvi said that about a dozen teachers were rushed on emergency basis to some of the polling stations on Thursday. Almost all the teaching and non-teaching staff who were listed for election duties, carried out their assignment peacefully and magnificently on election day, he added, saying that the education department is thankful to them.

In the meantime, the district officer education (colleges), Prof Mujeeb Feroze, told Dawn that teaching for the newly admitted students in the faculty of arts in colleges would start from Oct 14. He said that first year classes in other faculties had already started, and the tempo would build up soon.

CLAIMS FORMS: Prof Mujeeb informed that the last date for the collection of claims forms from students in regard to placement at colleges would be Oct 12. He said that those who have not finalized their admissions could get the forms from claims centres and submit them back the same day to the centres concerned.

The claims centre for male students is located at National College and for female students at Khatoon-i-Pakistan College. Prof Mujeeb said that students of any faculty could avail the chance on Saturday.

It was learnt that 1,200 to 1,500 claims forms are still lying with the Centralized Admission Committee for college admissions. A member of the committee said that cases could not be finalized in time as the teachers working at the admission cell were also engaged by the Election Commission for polling purposes.

However, the official hoped that claims cases would now be expedited, and it was likely that cases would be disposed of within three to four days.