K-P to hire 3,000 college staff

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has approved the recruitment of more than 3,000 educated youth on a ten-month contract in degree colleges across the province during the current academic year.

The decision was taken at a high-level meeting at the Higher Education Secretariat, chaired by Minister for Higher Education, Archives and Libraries Meena Khan Afridi. Provincial Minister for Food Zahir Shah Toru, Minister for Elementary and Secondary Education Faisal Tarakai, Minister for Agriculture Sajjad Barkwal, and Special Assistant to the Chief Minister on Excise and Taxation Khaliqur Rehman also attended.

The committee reviewed the shortage of teaching and support staff in degree colleges and decided to fill the gap immediately. The recruits will be offered competitive salaries, with special allowances for those posted in hard-to-reach areas.

Minister Afridi said promoting higher education is a top priority and that all resources are being utilized to strengthen the sector. He assured that the hiring process would be transparent and in line with market standards.

Officials said the move would enhance academic capacity and improve learning opportunities for students across the province.

It may be recalled that in June, Minister for Elementary Education, Faisal Khan Tarakai, announced a series of robust measures to tackle the shortage of schoolteachers across the province. Speaking to the media, he stated that recruitment of school teachers through the Educational Testing and Evaluation Agency (ETEA) is currently underway to ensure merit-based hiring of qualified educators.

Under the Double Shift School Program, teachers are also being appointed on a temporary basis via Parent-Teacher Councils. Additionally, recruitment is ongoing in various districts under a UNICEF-supported initiative. The minister further revealed that interns are also being hired this year under a new scheme to support schools facing acute shortages.

Emphasizing the importance of teacher presence in classrooms, Minister Tarakai said, "Every classroom must have a teacher, this is non-negotiable. We are committed to ensuring the availability of at least one teacher in each classroom across the province."

He also highlighted the role of the Education Management Information System (EMIS), stating that comprehensive teacher data is being collected to guide effective planning and deployment. "We are focusing heavily on teacher training, and have finalized an agreement with the University of Cambridge to provide professional development for newly recruited teachers through ETEA," he added.

The education minister also stressed the government's commitment to digital learning, stating that e-books and digital resources are being prioritized.