RAWALPINDI: The Punjab education department has asked the police’s Special Branch to help prepare lists of government schoolteachers who are running private tuition centres or working for private academies in the evening.

The provincial government banned private tuitions and academies run by government teachers in May, along with barring teachers from teaching classes at private academies.

A senior District Education Authority official told Dawn there were reports that many schoolteachers from public sector educational institutions are working at private academies and helping students score higher in annual examinations.

There are also reports of private schools opened by government teachers to earn money, he said, adding that schoolteachers must pay attention to students in school but many schools’ results in the previous annual examinations were not good.

He said the provincial education department has sought lists of teachers working at private academies.

The authority has started working on the list, with help from the Special Branch.

Teachers have criticised the ban, saying the government should ban government doctors from running private practices.

“If doctors are allowed to run private practices, then there should be no ban on teachers working in the evening. Teachers’ salaries are not enough to make ends meet, and they have to do additional work,” Punjab Teachers’ Association district president Raja Shahid said.

He said the government hired teachers to teach, but then involved them in election duties, polio campaigns and other health-related drives.

“The government wants to keep teachers busy in other work instead of imparting education,” he said.

Mr Shahid said the government had asked teachers to enrol more students in their schools, adding that it was not possible for teachers to pay attention to students if they were occupied with such work.

“Personally, I am not in favour of working in private academies, but there are some teachers who need an additional income to run the kitchen for their big families and other necessary things, such as their children’s higher education fees,” he said.

He said the standard of education was falling in government-run schools due to the wrong kind of policies, not because of the negligence of teachers, who are giving students their full attention.

Published in Dawn, December 23rd, 2018