LAYYAH: Punjab Schools Education Department’s policy of reallocation of teaching staff may affect the working of state-run schools in the province.

The schools education department, after its failed policy of rationalisation, has formulated a new policy of reallocation of teaching staff, claiming it is aimed at achieving objectives of 100pc enrollment, retention of enrolled students in schools, utilisation of the existing human resource, provision of need-based subject teachers and maintenance of student-teacher ratio. However, the new policy carries a number of flaws.

According to the policy, a primary school with 60 students will have two teachers and the school having 90 students will have three teachers while the one with 130 students will get another additional teacher but if the school has even one student less than 130, only three teachers will have to teach all the 129 students.

The two primary schoolteachers will have to take care of six classes and one can imagine the situation of single-teacher schools which exist in dozens across the district.The middle level schools will have one senior schoolteacher (SST), who will also be the headmaster, a physical education teacher (PET), one elementary school teacher (EST) of general cadre and one of EST of science and one Arabic teacher (AT). Class VI, VII and VIII each will consist of 50 students and if the enrollment of each class reaches 90 students then an additional teacher will be posted there.

The high schools will get a drawing master (DM) and two SSTs, one for general cadre and one for science subjects.

The PET teacher general will be an ex-serviceman and the Arabic teacher will have only a certificate from the Wifaqul Madaris: both of them will be considered as general cadre teachers. This means that the middle schools will have only two teachers as a PET and the AT, with no formal education, cannot impart education other than their own subjects.

Such a pathetic situation in state-run schools with shortage of teachers will persuade the parents to enroll their children in private schools rather than the two-teacher government schools which will damage the public school and the low enrollment may ultimately lead to their closure.

The headmaster of a high school, on the condition of anonymity, said: “the education officials have prepared a list of the teachers on a seniority basis and all better educated junior schoolteachers are being shifted from my school and I will be left with senior teachers. Two of them are on the verge of retirement so I have not given them any class, two of the senior teachers are handicapped. According to need-based postings, the officials must consult the headmaster of the school before the transfer of the teacher from that respective school."

This policy of relocation of teaching staff was implemented in the district Attock, Khushab and Lodhran. In a recent meeting with secretary of schools, the then EDO Education Muzaffargarh Naziq Shahzad voiced his concern about the policy but he was reprimanded by the secretary, an insider who also attended the meeting told Dawn.

Punjab Teachers Union District President Manzoor Ahmed Durrani says the PETs and ATs, who are recognised as general cadre teachers, do not know modern teaching methods and the elementary school headmasters will have no choice to impart education to the students with two general cadre teachers, this policy must be revisited otherwise it can ruin the prospects of the poor parents to enroll their kids in public schools which will lead to their virtual closure. Layyah EDO Education Hidayatullah said: “I have also some reservations about the policy but this is a provincial level policy and I have to implement it in my district as it will be implemented throughout the province.”

However, he admitted that “not only the seniority but school-based arrangements should be considered in transfers and postings of the teaching staff”.

He said the policy was challenged in the apex court and after that this was now in implementation phase.

Published in Dawn, July 17th , 2014