LAHORE: The Punjab government has initiated the appointment process for 400 public college principals to improve the administration of higher education institutions in the province.

The Higher Education Department (HED) has officially opened the portal for receiving applications for these prestigious positions, inviting both male and female candidates to apply. The portal, launched on Aug 30, will remain open until 5pm on Sept 10.

The HED has outlined the criteria for selecting principals to ensure a transparent and merit-based process.

According to criteria, available with Dawn, the candidates will be assessed on a variety of factors, including educational qualifications, with 10 points, and annual confidential reports (ACRs) carrying 20 points. Additional points are awarded for service duration (10 points), seniority (five points), administrative experience (20 points), college postings (10 points), training workshops (five points), results (10 points) and the interview (10 points).

The interview panel will shortlist the top three candidates for each vacancy, with the final selection to be based on a comprehensive evaluation of the candidates’ service records.

In line with ensuring high standards of leadership, the HED has set a standard that only those candidates with unblemished service records, free from penalties or ongoing inquiries, will be considered for these administrative posts. The normal tenure for a principal’s posting will be three years, contingent upon satisfactory performance and administrative requirements. However, the department reserves the right to annul any appointment on administrative grounds at any time.

Applicants within the last two years of their service period will not be eligible to apply for principal’s post. Additionally, the officers currently holding any administrative position will also not be eligible to apply unless the remaining tenure of their administrative post is less than three months.

The HED has also specified that librarians and teachers with grades lower than the post applied for will not be eligible, except in certain cases for associate and graduate colleges.

Male officers are eligible to apply for positions in male colleges and woman officers may apply for positions in female colleges but for co-education institutions, both male and female officers may apply. Preference will be given to the candidates who match the grade level of the post applied for, without compromising the overall merit.

Eligible candidates from the teaching faculty of public sector colleges, as well as those positioned on administrative seats within the Higher Education Department and Directorate of Public Instruction (DPI) are encouraged to apply.

Applications must be submitted through the HED Punjab Mobile Application, available for download from the Google Play Store. The department has emphasized that no manual or delayed applications will be considered and any application lacking essential details or containing false information will be automatically disqualified from the shortlisting process.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2024