New hiring: Punjab plans massive boost in teaching workforce

Education dept to hire 80,000 teachers at union council level across province


Ammar Sheikh October 28, 2016
PHOTO: EXPRESS

LAHORE: The Punjab government has decided to hire at least 80,000 schoolteachers in what is said to be the highest number of teacher ever recruitment.

The latest employment drive at the union council level will increase the number of teachers across the province by about 27%, a senior official of the Punjab School Education Department (SED) told The Express Tribune on Friday.

Official figures state Punjab has 52,292 public schools, where 338,915 teachers are working. Despite the largest number of teachers employed by any province in the country, Punjab is home to half of the out-of-school children in Pakistan. A report by the Academy of Educational Planning and Management (AEPMA) claims that 15% of the total schools in Punjab operate with only one teacher teaching multiple grades.



Keeping in view the situation, the SED official said the provincial government decided to increase the number of teachers at all levels and the hiring would be done as per the requirement of each district.

The new teachers will be hired in basic pay scales of 9, 14 and 16. The posts will be advertised by the SED after receiving input from the district coordination officers. The candidates will be selected through the NTS after a comprehensive test.

He added those areas of Punjab would be the prime target where there was a lack of teachers and priority would be given to locals of the area for the vacant posts.

The number of teachers has been decided based on estimates available with the SED. The recruitments are expected to be made in 2017. Currently over 300,000 teachers are working at government schools.

The education department faced several issues during its previous hiring drive when about 40,000 recruitments were to be made. Most candidates failed to pass the written test.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29th, 2016.

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