Teachers demand education reforms

Formally submit comprehensive charter of demands to minister

Qaiser Sherazi May 12, 2024

Primary teachers association demands promotion committees by April 9. PHOTO: AFP

RAWALPINDI:

The Secondary School Teachers Association (SSTA) has presented a charter of demands to the new Punjab government to address teachers’ issues and enhance the education system.

The charter has been formally submitted to the Education Minister, Sikandar Hayat. Key figures from the SSTA leadership, including Kamran Aziz, Humira Nazeer, Nazim Mehmood, and Zahid Mehmood, emphasised that a significant portion of subject specialist positions in the scale 17 at high secondary schools, totaling 4,321 out of 5,582, have remained vacant for a long time.

Highlighting a staggering 77.41% shortage of teachers in the secondary section overall, they said that the situation has paralysed the teaching system. Moreover, they pointed out that 70% of high and higher secondary schools across the province lack permanent head principals, exacerbating administrative challenges to the brink of collapse. Furthermore, approximately 14,000 SSEs (Senior Subject Specialists) and Assistant Education Officers have been compelled to serve on a contractual basis for a decade, facing the looming threat of dismissal.

The SSTA leaders called for the immediate promotion of Secondary School Teachers (SSTs) in scales 17 and 18 to headmasters and subject specialists through executive order. They advocated for the implementation of the in-service promotion quota, set at 67% for secondary school teachers, as a means to alleviate these pressing issues.

They also demanded that all secondary school teachers be promoted according to the 4-grade formula. The appointment of scale 18 subject specialists to administrative roles should be ceased, with preference given to their placement as regular school heads. Furthermore, they urged for the restoration of deputy headmaster positions and emphasised the urgency of filling all vacant posts across primary, middle, high, and higher levels through new recruitments.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 13^th, 2024.