PESHAWAR: Majority of the 5,000 government school teachers recently promoted to the high grades couldn’t teach their subjects to the secondary classes putting future of the students at stake, according to sources.

Headmasters of the high schools where the promoted teachers have been posted are facing a dilemma of what to do with the teachers who are unable to teach their subjects to the students of secondary classes, sources in the Elementary and Secondary Education Department told Dawn.

Over 5,000 primary school teachers (PST), certificated teachers (CTs), drawing masters (DMs), theology teachers (TTs), Arabic teachers (ATs) and Qaris have been promoted to the secondary school teachers (SSTs), while the promotion of 1,500 more such teachers is in progress, they said.

Instead of recruiting freshly graduated teachers the education department has preferred to promote the teachers who have obtained the required qualification 15 to 20 years ago, an educationist said.

He said that under the formula for the secondary school teachers’ appointment, 75 per cent were promoted from the PSTs, CTs, DMs, TTs, ATs, and Qaris, while 25 per cent were directly recruited through the Public Service Commission’s examination.

Under the formula 75pc of teachers are promoted from primary and middle schools

Of the 75 per cent teachers, the CTs have a share of 40 per cent, PSTs 20 per cent, and DMs, TTs and ATs 4 per cent each, while Qaris get 3 per cent share in the promotion.

Maximum experience with BA/BSc and Bachelor of Education (BEd) is the main criteria for the promotion to the secondary school teachers in BPS-16, he said, adding that the promoted teachers were unable to teach physics, chemistry, general science and mathematics to the students of secondary classes by not fulfilling their responsibilities.

Asked the reasons for the promoted teachers’ inability to teach, one of the district education officers told Dawn that the promoted teachers’ education was outdated as they had done their BA/BSc and BEd some 20 years ago while curricula had been changed several times over the same period.

There is a lot of difference in teaching the students of primary school and that of the 9th and 10th classes, one of the headmasters of a high school told Dawn. “A teacher promoted to the SST post has categorically told me that he can only teach Islamiat and Pak Study,” the headmaster said, adding that actually that teacher was supposed to teach mathematics and general science.

“We are not against the promotion of such teachers to the next grades. We have reservations about the change of cadre with the promotion,” one of district education officers said. Verbal complaints from the headmasters of various schools to DEOs have started against such teachers about their inability to teach, he said.

He said that with the promotion of so many incompetent teachers to the SSTs cadre the result of the Secondary School Certificate examinations in government schools would further deteriorate. He suggested that the education department should immediately stop promotion to the SSTs cadre rather they should be appointed through competitive examinations.

A senior officer in the education department, however, said that there was no harm in the promotion of CTs, PSTs, TTs, ATs, etc to the cadre of SSTs. Qualification criteria of BA/BSc and BEd was the same for the promotion and fresh recruitment, he said.

“There should be an incentive of promotion for the teachers working in lower grades otherwise no one will join the education department,” he said.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2016