Govt delays teacher recruitment

Seeks to address shortage in schools through transfers

LAHORE:

Instead of recruitment, the Punjab School Education Department is planning to address the shortage of teachers by transferring staff from the institutions having surplus employees, The Express Tribune has learnt.

Under the policy, excess staff from government schools will be transferred to the institutions facing shortage of employees across Punjab.

According to sources, the department has collected the data of schools from all districts to implement the decision.

On the other hand, teachers demanded recruitment to address the problem, asserting that the policy would not provide a permanent solution.

The sources said that despite facing difficulties in continuing the academic activities in the schools, the Punjab government does not plan to recruit teachers to fill the vacant posts because of shortage of funds.

Thousands of jobless young graduates across the province have been waiting for the recruitment for a long period.

The sources in the Punjab School Education Department said the government would soon begin work on the new rationalisation policy and a formula has been devised to implement it.

The previous provincial government led by the PTI had also avoided recruitment of schoolteachers.

A large number of jobless youth were hoping that the new government would fill the large number of existing vacant posts in schools across the province.

"Rationalisation of teaching staff will be carried out in the government schools as it is the only solution in the current circumstances to dealing with the shortage of around 100,000 teaches. Under the decision, teachers from schools having additional staff will be transferred to the institutions facing shortage,” said a senior official of the Punjab School Education Department.

The official said that under a formula devised for the scheme, it had been decided that there should be five teachers for 100 students in a government school, 10 for 101 to 300 students and 15 teachers for 301 to 500 students.

He said staff data had been collected from all districts of the province to implement the decision. The aim will be to ensure adequate numbers of teachers in all government schools across Punjab.

The official claimed that while thousands of schools had shortage of staff, there were also thousands of others that had more teachers than required.

School Education Department Public Relations Officer Noorul Huda said the issue of shortage of schoolteachers would be addressed through the staff rationalisation policy in the first phase.

The official said teachers would be recruited after the rationalization, but the process might be initiated about four months later.

A graduate having a masters degree, Waseem Malik, said while speaking to The Express Tribune that about six years had passed without the recruitment of teachers for the government schools in Punjab.

“Thousands of the MPhil and masters degree holders have crossed the age of eligibility while waiting for jobs and now the government has again disappointed them,” he lamented.

Punjab Teachers Union Secretary General Rana Liaqat Ali said rationalisation is also important but “our actual issue is the shortage of more than 100,000 teachers. The Punjab government should begin the recruitment immediately because the serving teachers are facing problems because of the staff shortage”.

He said the standard of education in the schools was declining because of the problem and students were suffering due to the unavailability of teachers of various subjects.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 2^nd, 2024.