‘1,200 public schools without heads’

LAHORE: United Teachers Council (UTC) Punjab has demanded the caretaker chief minister to take notice of over 1,200 public schools functioning without regular administrative heads and solve the problem through in-service promotion of schoolteachers.

In a press release, UTC Punjab leaders Tariq Mahmood, Hafiz Abdul Nasir, Hafiz Ghulam Mohiuddin and others said over 1,200 public schools across the province were functioning without regular headmasters/headmistresses for several years while the officials of School Education Department (SED) were not addressing this serious issue. They suggested that the interim government could solve the problem through in-service promotion of schoolteachers. They also demanded action against the SED officials responsible for the problem.

UOE budget: The Syndicate of University of Education (UOE) has approved the university’s annual budget worth Rs2.33 billion for the financial year 2018-19. The approval was granted during the 54th meeting of the Syndicate chaired by Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Rauf-e-Azam. Of the total budget, Rs445.108 million has been allocated to the development projects while the recurring budget is Rs1.88 billion. The Syndicate also accorded approval for 10 percent ad hoc increase in the salaries of UOE employees following the federal and provincial budget in this regard.

town planning: Commissioner Lahore Division Dr Mujtaba Piracha has said that to streamline town planning and urban management was the need of the hour to devise a central mechanism for whole Lahore city to tackle all urban issues.

He said this while chairing a meeting here Monday regarding streamlining town planning and urban management in Lahore city. Mayor of Lahore Col (R) Mubashar Javed also participated in the meeting. CEO Urban Unit, Additional Commissioner Coordination, and officers of Punjab Safe City Authority, PHA, SNGPL, Lesco LDA, traffic police and others were also present in the meeting.

He said that issuance of NOC for any development scheme, restoration and maintenance of work after digging must be streamlined to address different issues. He said that issuance of NOC should be done by a central committee comprising of all agencies to keep all schemes according to the standards.

He said that geographical and jurisdictional limits should be very clear to every agency. He said that the suggestion “One city and one main public complaint redress system” was a reliable mechanism to ease the citizens for their help. He said that responding mechanism on different complaints must be more coordinated and speedy. In the meeting, it was suggested that through automated generated information system to the field officer, complaints of citizens could be addressed speedily and effectively. Commissioner Lahore Division said that soon a meeting of all heads of agencies would be convened to devise a concrete mechanism on sustainable basis.