RAWALPINDI, Sept 29: The district government has started the process of filling 803 vacancies of schoolteachers, an education department official said on Monday.

There are some 3,274 vacancies in the district educational institutions, of which 274 are in colleges.

“We are making appointments against 25 per cent of the total vacancies in schools,” the official said and added that the application forms were being issued and would be received back till October 10.

The official said 800 vacancies were open seats whereas the remaining three were new expenditure seats.

The teachers would be hired in three cadres: elementary school educators (for primary classes), senior elementary school educators (for middle school classes) and secondary school educators.

In view of the acute shortage of science teachers, the district government has decided to recruit senior elementary school educators under the formula of 80 science to 20 arts teachers.

“We will be recruiting 22 arts teachers, all of whom will be of English language,” the official said, adding that ten of the teachers would be appointed in Rawalpindi city while the rest would be distributed among the remaining tehsils.

The minimum qualification for the vacancies is graduation. Those holding a primary teacher certificate in addition to a bachelor’s degree would qualify for the elementary schoolteacher’s posts, while candidates having a CT certificate with a bachelor’s degree can apply for senior elementary educator’s positions.

Master’s degree-holders with a BEd or MEd degree would be eligible for senior school educator’s posts.

The appointments would be contractual for a maximum period of five years after which the contracts would be renewed depending on the performance of the teachers. The teachers would be selected for specific schools.

A similar exercise for recruitment of teachers had been carried out a year ago. The process on that occasion had been marred by complaints of irregularities and mismanagement. Despite the overwhelming response, several positions remained vacant and had to be surrendered subsequently.