Teachers slam enrolment targets

RAWALPINDI:

Punjab Teachers Union General Secretary Rana Liaquat Ali has called for enrolment targets to be set for each educational institution in consultation with its head and in accordance with the available resources.

He said it was not possible for every school to achieve a 10 per cent increase in enrolment because of a persistent shortage of teachers and Class IV employees, as well as inadequate basic facilities.

He said school heads and teachers were responsible for meeting admission targets in line with the number of students leaving after completing Grade 5 in primary schools, Grade 8 in middle schools and Grade 10 in high schools.

However, pressuring teachers to achieve the 10 per cent target, summoning school heads and teachers to offices after school hours and making them sit outside for hours as punishment, and threatening them with dismissal amounted to encouraging fictitious enrolments, he said.

Rana Liaquat Ali said authorities had earlier directed schools to eliminate fake enrolments immediately, but were now setting unrealistic targets that could mislead senior officials.

He identified staff shortages, inadequate facilities, a lack of funds, excessive paperwork, examination-related and non-teaching duties assigned to teachers, and the temporary deployment of teachers and other employees to government offices as major obstacles to achieving enrolment targets and improving the quality of education.

He urged the Punjab chief minister to commission an independent third-party audit of schools instead of relying solely on Education Department statistics, saying it would provide a more accurate picture of the challenges facing educational institutions.