Patiala: The Punjab Government has decided to establish nine colleges in the educationally backward districts of the state including a girls' college at Amritsar.

This was announced by State Education Minister Dr. Upinderjit Kaur during the concluding function of the Punjabi Week organized by the Punjab Languages Department.

The Minister also announced that 4,000 surplus teachers from urban schools have been shifted to rural schools under a massive rationalization exercise for filling up the vacant posts in rural government schools.

The Government has decided to fill up, on a priority basis, the vacant posts of school teachers in the Mathematics, Science, English and Computer Science subjects.

In her declaration, she said, "The process of promotion of teachers which had been held up for a long time has already been initiated."

Dr. Dalbir Singh Dhillon, Chairman of the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB), on the occasion, appealed to parents to encourage their children to converse in Punjabi at home.