Punjab education ministry bars staff from vaccination duties

The Punjab education ministry has taken stern notice of deployment of school monitoring staff for vaccination and monitoring duties.

The district administrations regularly muster the education department employees for polio vaccination duties, typhoid inoculation drives, monitoring and implementation of standard operating procedures for the prevention of the novel coronavirus, price monitoring and control duties.

Subsequently, the ministry has issued directives to the district education officers of all 36 districts of the province to immediately remove the officers and officials of the education department from these unnecessary duties and to deploy them on monitoring of schools.

Punjab Ministry of Education Deputy Director Monitoring Malik Ghulam Farid issued the special circular.

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The ministry has also asked the deputy commissioners of all districts of Punjab to relinquish the education department staff from additional and unnecessary duties and send them back to the education department. The ministry of education has also warned that departmental action will be taken against the field monitoring officers who do not return to the department concerned immediately.

Meanwhile, the education department has called for lists of all assistant education officers and SSAs recruited in 2017 for regularisation.

The education ministry has issued a circular to district education officers across the province instructing them to submit complete data by January 31. According to the teachers' organisations, after receiving the data, the process of regularisation of all these contract educators will be started.

In addition, as all educational institutions across the country will open from February 1, the ministry of education has sought all details of teachers, students, non-teaching staff, and grade IV employees who have tested positive for coronavirus from 18 December 2020 to 29 January 2021 across the province.

The education ministry has directed the chief executive officers of the district education authorities of all districts of Punjab in a circular to send data of the staff affected by Covid-19 infection during the period by January 30.

According to sources, all teachers, students and staff affected by the coronavirus infection will be asked to undergo a test again.

As soon as the circular is received, the heads of government primary, middle, high and higher secondary schools across the district have started updating the data of such staff teachers and students.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 28^th, 2021.