Educators battle it all to impart knowledge

Most of them are overburdened and complain of lack of facilities

LAHORE: Across the province, teachers were celebrated on Thursday. Yet, on World Teachers’ Day, these professionals, who usually earn a meager amount for imparting the invaluable gift of knowledge, are facing a host of problems.

Single teacher schools, low pay for teachers, administrative assignments and lack of career development are just the tip of their iceberg of concerns. Punjab has gained when it comes to improving the public education setup of the province, however, teachers complain that authorities have pressurised them to attain enrolment and other targets without providing incentives or facilities.



Talking to The Express Tribune on World Teachers’ Day, Punjab Teachers’ Union (PTU) General Secretary Rana Liaquat Ali said that people from his profession had long been protesting against many of the unjust demands of the government.

He said that there was a shortage of teachers, but on the other hand, they were asked to perform administrative duties during elections and the population census, apart from their teaching responsibilities. Giving examples of the additional workload, he said, “In many government schools, there are no sweepers and the responsibility of maintaining cleanliness falls on teachers.” Other duties of teachers include going door-to-door and enrolling out-of-school children, he added.

Liaquat said teachers faced administrative problems too. He was of the view that there were many schools with single teachers or two at the most, along with a shortage of administrative staff. He said that there as many as 1,000 to 1,200 posts of headmasters and principals vacant in schools of the province.



“Without head teachers, others have to look after the administrative affairs of schools in addition to teaching which is a burden for them,” he added.

Landscape of school education

According to the Pakistan Education Atlas 2016 released in September last year, Punjab has an average teacher-school ratio of 3, meaning that on average Punjab has three teachers per school, whereas the province runs 15% of its primary schools with a single teacher.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 6^th, 2017.