The past year proved to be disappointing for the school education sector in Punjab with millions of children deprived of the right and thousands of pots of teachers remaining vacant.
About 120,000 vacant posts were not filled and the shortage of teachers badly affected academic activities.
An incident of manhandling of protesting schoolteachers left the worst memory of the year, while the schools across the province had to be shut twice because of smog and eye infections.
The teachers took to the streets several times to press demands related to their jobs and the education facilities.
Schoolchildren in all districts of Punjab also faced a delay in the distribution of textbooks. The Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board failed to provide textbooks to the schools at the beginning of the academic year and the process was delayed by up to three months in many districts.
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The caretaker provincial government replaced the school education secretaries thrice during the year and the instability hampered the implementation of several development plans, including one to set up a model school in every district.
The lingering issue of shortage of teachers in the government schools marred the academic activities throughout the year. Recruitment to fill the more than 120,000 vacant posts was not initiated.
The teachers’ shortage coupled with inflation contributed to a high dropout rate of students from the government schools.
The caretaker government announced an initiative a plan to set up model schools in the districts but no institution was constructed.
The schools also suffered because of inadequate basic infrastructure, especially lack of water filtration plants and playgrounds.
Thousands of the schools across the province continued operating without computer labs and libraries.
A plan to improve 1,000 schools after handing over them to the private sector was announced, but not implemented because of protests and other issues.
Teaches boycotted academic activities over the issue of leave encashment and organized big protest demonstrations in Lahore and other districts.
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Manhandling of protesting teachers by the police and registrations of cases against 200 of them drew widespread criticism.
Arrest of teachers during the protests also caused academic loss to the students.
Another issue that arose during the year was that 14,000 educators were not issued given letters of regularization of service despite protests.
The examination boards in the province also increased their fee while several top posts in the sector remained vacant.
The districts failed to achieve the targets of students’ enrollment and an estimated six million children in Punjab remained out of school.
Schools across then province were forced to shut during the past year because of eye infections near the year-end due to smog and air pollution.
The caretaker provincial government also stopped tours organized by the schools.
Parents of the pupils of private schools also suffered because of drastic fee hikes, while the education department could not frame a strategy to check the practice.
"It was a disappointing and difficult year for us as we witnessed torture on teachers that will be remembered forever. Our teachers struggling for their rights remained dejected while the year passed. We can only hope that the government may comprehend the importance of teachers for the society,” said Punjab Teachers Union General Secretary Rana Liaqat Ali.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 1st, 2024
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