Over 7,300 interns to teach in govt colleges

Recruited candidates to serve till end of academic year

LAHORE:

The recruitment of 7,354 teaching interns has been completed in government colleges of Punjab.

Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif presided over a meeting to review the implementation of the Higher Education Internship Programme, in which Punjab Higher Education Secretary Dr Farrukh Naveed said the interns would be paid Rs50,000 monthly for eight months. They will teach in the government colleges until the completion of the academic session by March 31.

According to a statement, the chief minister congratulated the department for recruiting the interns on merit by maintaining transparency.

The participants were also informed in the briefing that transfer and posting of 962 college teachers had been completed under an e-transfer policy.

The teachers received their orders after applying online on a portal.

The appointment of principals and directors of government colleges would also be done under transparent criteria, the officials added.

In another development, CM Maryam Nawaz launched the Chief Minister Laptop and Honhaar Scholarship Programme, setting a target of providing laptops to students in 90 days. The students will be given Core-i7 13th generation laptops.

The chief minister directed the authorities to provide laptops to 2,000 students from minority communities. She also ordered the provision of laptops to the position holders in matriculation and FSc. The top students will also be presented guard of honour.

Under the scheme, 20,000 students of universities, 14,000 of colleges, 4,000 of technical and agricultural colleges and 2,000 of medical and dental colleges will be given laptops.

It has been decided that 32 per cent of the laptops will be distributed among students from South Punjab.

The students will be given 5,000 laptops in the coming 30 days and 35,000 by February 20.

In addition, 30,000 students of government educational institutions and 10,000 of private institutions will be awarded scholarships across Punjab, including 18,000 female students.

Full tuition fee of the students of four to five years will be paid under the Honhaar Scholarship Programme.

According to officials, 68,329 applications have been received for the scholarships and 34,290 of them have bene verified.

They said 15.5% additional enrolment had been made in the public sector universities of Punjab, exceeding the target. The appointment of vice chancellors in 18 government universities has been made and the process for six others is under way, while one post will be re-advertised.