College teaching interns still unpaid

LAHORE
THE Punjab government seems totally indifferent to over 5,000 College Teaching Interns (CTIs), teaching in public colleges of the province, as they have not received stipend of a single month since October 2014.
The News had highlighted the issue in early February and talking to this scribe Secretary Higher Education Department (HED) Punjab Muhammad Aslam Kamboh had claimed that the CTIs would be paid outstanding stipend since October 2014 during the month of February while from March onward the CTIs would be getting their stipend on monthly basis.
However, the CTIs have yet to receive the stipend and demanded the chief minister to take notice of the delay and provide relief to them at the earliest.
The CTIs were hired for one academic session starting from October 1, 2014 to May 31, 2015 with Rs30,000 stipend per month. Talking to The News a number of CTIs said their contract was going to expire in May 2015 but it was unfortunate that they were yet not paid. They added the delay had been multiplying their problems in the wake of ever-growing inflation and unemployment.
Secretary HED said the department had provided funds to the colleges for subsequent payment to the CTIs. He said the colleges had also started submitting bills to the district account offices so that the CTIs could get their stipends at the earliest. He said the budget for CTIs had been made available online as well so that they get the stipend on monthly basis unlike the past. Aslam Kamboh said it was now up to colleges to complete the process as soon as possible.
lauded: Punjab Minister for Law, Excise & Taxation and Finance, Mujtaba Shuja ur Rehman Monday said private educational institutions are playing a pivotal role in providing quality education and government highly appreciates the services of private sector for the enhancement of literacy rate.
Talking to a delegation of Pakistan Private Schools Management Association, the minister said the budget allocated for education is Rs 274 billion which is 26.25 per cent of total expenditures.
He said the Punjab School Reforms Roadmap is yielding positive results for the uplift of education sector and enrollment of every child of the province will be ensured by the end of 2018.
He said improvement of higher education is the priority of government and Rs14.5 billion has been provided for developmental work of the higher education. He said new targets have been set under Reforms Roadmap and the 18-point new roadmap will have to be implemented in letter and spirit for achieving all these targets till 2018.
The minister said provision of the education is constitutional obligation of the government, but the government cannot do this duty single handedly, and requires the support of private sector in this regard.
He said scholarships of Rs 12 billion are being provided to more than 50 thousand students within the country and abroad from Endowment fund and students of private education institutions are also benefiting from the fund.
He said the government considers private schools active partner in the struggle of promotion of education in the country and Rs7.50 billion has been allocated to the Punjab Education Foundation for grant to the private schools.
He said the Punjab government is pursuing a comprehensive policy for the promotion and up-gradation of school education and Rs 8 billion have been provided for the provision of missing facilities in all schools in the province.
He said Rs 3.63 billion has been provided for the distribution of free of cost textbooks to students.
He said that IT labs had been set up in more than 5000 high schools and 515 middle schools. He said that Rs 2.40 billion has been provided for provision of non-formal basic education to 20 lakh illiterate people.