Over 4,400 teaching posts lie vacant across Punjab
Across Punjab, a staggering 4,404 posts of Subject Specialist (Grade-17) teachers in higher and higher secondary schools remain vacant due to delays in promotions and new appointments.
According to data, of the 5,576 sanctioned positions, nearly 79 per cent are unfilled. The vacancies persist because Secondary School Teachers (SSTs), who are entitled to 67 per cent in-service promotion quota, have not been elevated for years.
The alleged negligence, educationists say, violates teachers' legal rights and amounts to "economic murder" of qualified staff.
The Higher Secondary School system, introduced in 1987 after the abolition of intermediate colleges, now faces collapse in the absence of specialist instructors in key subjects such as chemistry, physics, mathematics, biology, English, Urdu, and computer science.
Both male and female SSTsmany with MPhil and postgraduate qualificationshave been burdened with administrative duties instead of teaching, further disrupting classroom standards.
No new SST recruitment has been made for years, while promotion committees have failed to convene.
Punjab SST Teachers Association President Iqbal Nadeem Bhall and central leader Muhammad Shafiq Bhalwalia said, "Subject Specialists are the backbone of the higher secondary system.