70,000 NEW TEACHERS TO BE RECRUITED IN SCHOOLS, MINISTER TELLS PA

PROVINCIAL Minister for School Education Rana Mashhod Ahmad Khan said that the Punjab government is planning to establish high schools in every union council of the province and that the chief minister has given his approval in this regard. He was speaking in the 23rd session of Punjab Assembly (PA) on Tuesday and answering questions related to his ministry. “As many as 70 thousand new teachers will be recruited in Punjab to improve the standards of education”, he said. According to Mashhod, an amount of Rs 8 billion was allocated this year to provide missing facilities in the schools of Punjab.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker Dr Nausheen Hamid asked about the actions taken by the government against the schools which have failed to produce good results. “There were some schools that could not produce good results and departmental inquiry has been initiated against them”, the minister said, and added that action has been taken against 19 thousand teachers under the Punjab Employees Efficiency, Discipline and Accountability (PEEDA) act for not producing good results. He was of the view that the service of one year will also be confiscated if a teacher fails to produce positive result.

Pakistan Muslim League – N (PML-N) MPA from Gujrat Mian Tariq Mehmood grilled the minister and said that he is painting a rosy picture despite the fact that there is no space of sitting in the high schools of Gujrat and government must also pay attention towards this grave issue.

Earlier, the session was started after the delay of more than one hour under the chair of Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan.

Moreover, four resolutions of public interest were unanimously adopted in the house. Jamat-e-Islami(JI) Parliamentary Leader Dr Syed Waseem Akhtar demanded the establishment of Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) in Bahawalpur through his resolution.

Speaking on the point of order, Opposition Leader Mian Mehmod-ur-Rasheed said that law minister Rana Sanaullah Khan is the spokesperson of the enemies of Pakistan as he is giving statements in the favour of Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) and its leadership.

“The law minister must apologise for criticising the Rangers’ actions of demolishing MQM’s offices in Karachi,” he said. Talking about the upcoming political gathering of PTI in Lahore on September 3, Rasheed said that it is the democratic right of every party to hold a sit-in to press for its demands and PTI will prove that Lahore belongs to Imran Khan.

Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said that the attitude of opposition is irresponsible in the house as their lawmakers come to house without proper preparation and point out the quorum frequently because of sheer embarrassment. “I am not a supporter of MQM or Altaf Hussain but I am against the demolishing of offices of a political party having a strong vote bank,” he said.

The session will be resumed on today at 10 AM.