LAHORE: Hundreds of college teachers and students being asked to attend the prize distribution ceremony at Qadhafi Stadium were unfairly treated due to ‘inadequate facilities’.

All the college teachers were called to attend recitation of Quran, Na’at and debates competition in connection with celebrating Shaan-e-Rehmat-Ul-Lil Alameen week at Alhamra Cultural Complex on Wednesday.

Punjab Higher Education Department (HED) Director of Education (Colleges) had written a letter to all principals of the colleges of the Lahore division to attend the prize distribution ceremony.

The letter available with Dawn states, “All DDCs and principals are advised to ensure the presence of their teaching staff at Al-Hamrah Cultural Complex Qaddafi Stadium to attend the prize distribution ceremony. All the DDCs of the concerned district will ensure the presence of teaching staff and Principals at the venue and the list of attendance may be communicated to this office for onward transmission to higher education department. In case of failure strict action will be proposed against those who remain absent willfully.”

The teachers said the entire college cadre of the Lahore division was directed to attend the ceremony and their attendance would be marked outside the venue. They said the college teachers had reached the venue but there were no sitting arrangements for them and they would have to remain standing outside the venue. They said the presence was made mandatory as Chief Minister Usman Buzdar would have to chair and address the ceremony that did not come there.

They said the government was following a policy of calling half of the students in the classes due to coronavirus pandemic but thousands of people were called to attend a ceremony and no one was caring about implementation of the coronavirus SOPs. “Will this coronavirus would not affect college teachers and students,” they questioned.

Punjab Higher Education Department (HED) had organized recitation of Quran, Na’at and debates competition in connection with celebrating Shaan-e-Rehmat-Ul-Lil Alameen week throughout the province.

Position holders of extra-curricular activities at district level were directed to participate in the competition. Provincial Minister for Higher Education Raja Yasir Humayun Sarfaraz was the chief guest of the ceremony while HED Additional Secretary Talha Hussain, DPI Colleges Punjab Dr Ashiq Hussain and Govt. Post Graduate Islamia College Cooper Road principal Prof Fozia Naz, were also present on this occasion.

According to the results, Minhaj Rauf of Govt. College for Women B-Block Rawalpindi got first position, Musaffara Tariq Govt. Post Graduate College for Women Gujranwala and Hafiza Musaffarah of Queen Mary College Lahore got second and third positions respectively in all Punjab recitation of Quran competition.

Similarly, Govt. College Satellite Town Bahawalpur got first position, Concordia College Faisalabad and Govt. Degree College Farooq Colony Sargodha became second and third respectively in recitation of Na’at competition.

Govt. College of Science Multan, Govt. College for Women Chishtian and Govt. Post Graduate College for Women Sargodha were first, second and third on the podium in Urdu debate competition.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2020