HEC's directions hailed

The recently issued directions by the Higher Education Department of Punjab regarding punctuality in public sector colleges have been welcomed by the academic circles of Southern Punjab who have been expressing concerns over the dereliction of the said teachers in observing working hours.
While enlightening about the new orders, an official of the department said all the staff members would be in the college for full working hours 8:00am to 3:00pm. The principals concerned will fax the attendance of the staff to the respective Director Education Officer (Colleges) at 8:30am who will then send a consolidated report to the DPI Colleges concerned.
Finally, all the Directors Colleges will report to the DPI Colleges. It has also been decided that no official would leave the office without getting prior sanction from his/her competent authority and any lapse on the part of the officer would be viewed seriously. Also, disciplinary proceedings would be initiated against the delinquent officials, he concluded.
Earlier, a large number of teachers had established their own educational academies, while some had joined already established private institutions. Resultantly, the results of governmental colleges were dwindling down day by day. Following this, the government of Punjab served show cause notices to the head of departments on their poor performance in First, Second year, BA, and BSc.
Another senior official of the department disclosed some elements within the teaching community were politicising the new instructions just to divert the attention from the real issue. "They know how much trouble they will face while observing punctuality", he commented. It is generally observed that some part of the academic session is wasted in examination and admission process.
It is also observed that most of the colleges stop classes almost two months ahead of exams. The academic circles are of the view that this practice should also be discouraged and students should be offered maximum time at colleges before exams, he elaborated. The issue has been a subject of heated debate over the years and would now hopefully solve.