Schools directed to start admission under SOPs

LAHORE:School Education Department (SED) Punjab has directed public schools across the province to take necessary action vis-à-vis admission of students and distribution of textbooks up to July 15, in the light of SOPs regarding Covid-19 pandemic.

It is pertinent to mention that SED Punjab has already allowed admin offices of all public and private schools to remain open on every Monday and Tuesday to run day to day affairs. It is also important to mention that as per federal government’s decision, educational institutions across the country are closed until July 15, 2020. While no decision has been announced about reopening of educational institutions, it is likely that the government would announce reopening of the institutions as soon as the situation vis-à-vis gets normalised. Meanwhile, an SED Punjab official, seeking anonymity, said the admission process would continue while strictly following SOPs regarding Covid-19 issued by the government so that when schools reopen the students could join new classes as they had already been promoted to next levels without examinations by the government.

SSEs, AEOs regularisation summary: School Education Department (SED), Punjab has forwarded a summary to the provincial cabinet about regularisation of services of Secondary School Educators (SSEs) and Assistant Education Officers (AEOs) without PPSC condition.

According to the details, the summary has been signed by Punjab School Education Minister Dr Murad Raas and forwarded to the provincial cabinet for necessary discussion and approval. Dr Murad Raas also shared the development on social media on Friday. “As promised, the process has been started and I will do my best to move it along. My recommendation is for regularisation without PPSC,” the minister wrote in his message. It is pertinent to mention that schoolteachers, including teachers associations particularly Punjab Teachers Union (PTU) had been criticising the School Education Department for linking the regularisation of services of SSEs and AEOs with Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) exams condition and delaying the same. For this, the minister was also facing a lot of criticism from the stakeholders on social media as the SED Punjab had already regularised the services of other contract teachers without the PPSC condition.

Aitchison College BOG reconstituted: The Board of Governors of Aitchison College Lahore has been reconstituted.

The Board of Governors (BoG) will consist of 22 members, including Punjab Governor as its President. There will be 16 non-official members. The Board of Governors approved by Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar will have six official members, including chief secretary, general officer commanding 10 division, secretary higher education, provincial secretary finance and principal Aitchison College Lahore while 16 non-official members. Punjab Governor said that no compromise would be made on transparency and merit. We are pursuing a policy of strengthening educational institutions in Punjab, he added.