QUETTA: The provincial education depanment has suspended 270 teachers, including three headmasters, after they were found absent from duty for a long time.

The secretary of secondary education, Muhammad Tayyab Lehri, said that an inquiry had been ordered against these teachers.

According to the official notice the action against these teachers was taken on the repon of district officials` concern and under the Real Time Monitoring System, a system used to mark attendance.

Some 145 employees from Panjgur district and 124 from Dera Bugti district were suspended from various educational institutions, he said.

Mr Lehri said the government was putting in effons to improve the education system and ensure presence of teachers at work.

`We are taking action against ghost teachers and those absent from their duties, without any discrimination,` he said, adding that the community should cooperate with the government in monitoring the education system.