The Punjab Higher Education Department (HED) has decided to move against lecturers of government-run colleges who are moonlighting in private colleges during their duty hours, Pakistan Today has learnt.
There are number of cases in major cities including Lahore where lecturers and senior professors teach the students privately during the college timings. The decision to take action against the teachers was taken in a meeting held between the representatives of Punjab Professors and Lecturers Association (PPLA) and Higher Education Department Secretary Irfan Ali.
The meeting discussed issues of the teaching community of college cadre ranging from the timely promotion of professors to the matter of pay protection for the teachers. It was pointed out during the meeting that there are a number of professors who give their services during the college timings to private academies at the cost of college students.
The secretary HED said that the department would start a clean-up operation to curb this menace in all colleges of the province.
One can witness plethora of such academies located at Gattu Street near Islamia College Civil Lines Lahore where government lecturers and professors give their services during the college hours.
A lecturer from Civil Lines College, who teaches in a private academy in that street, told Pakistan Today on condition of anonymity, that it is impossible for him to live a respectable life in the meager salary that he gets from the government. “I teach privately after giving my lecture in the college so I can earn more,” he said.
Zahid Shiekh, the president of Punjab Professors and Lecturers Association (PPLA), told Pakistan Today that his association has been talking about this matter since long but the department has just decided to take up the issue. He criticized the timing of the decision as there is no class work nowadays in the colleges due to the upcoming exam season.
“It is a promising step to improve the status of education in the colleges but in my opinion the department cannot achieve anything quantifiable these days through this policy because of upcoming exams. The initiative should be implemented during the study season in the colleges,” he said.
Ashfaq Ali, a lecturer from Government MAO College, told Pakistan Today that it had become a routine of the professors to go to the private academies after marking their attendance in the college. He said
