CHINIOT: The District Education Authority (DEA) has issued show-cause notices to 310 teachers of government schools for being absent from duty or being late during the month of April.

Apart from the regular visits of monitoring staff, the Punjab School Education Department (SED) has devised a new monitoring mechanism in which Monitoring and Evaluation Assistants (MEAs), usually retired army officers, perform surprise visits in each district.

A report compiled by the District Monitoring Office (DMO) revealed that 310 teachers, out of the total 3,909 working in more the 600 public schools in the district, were either absent or reached the school late.

Data gathered by Dawn revealed that the ratio of absent or late teaching staff has rapidly increased during the last six months, despite the SED under Punjab Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat offering incentives for improving performance.

According to the data, during April 2025, the number of absent teachers was an all time high compared to the last six months. A total of 332 teachers, 8.4% of the total, were not present at the time of the visit. This number was 175 during March. Whereas in February, there were 178 such teachers, while 230 were not present during visits in January. There were only 125 latecomers and absent teachers in December, 2024, while the least number of absent teachers, only 72, was recorded in November, 2024.

Punjab Teachers Union President Safdar Kalru said that MEAs visit the school only once during a month, which does not reflect the original absenteeism trends in schools. Moreover, he said that many schools were located in far-flung rural areas, where the system of public transport was not available.

He said teachers had to travel on buses, vans, rickshaws and then by foot to reach the school. On the other hand, MEAs were provided with motorcycles to reach their destinations. He suggested that teachers should also be given motorcycles on easy installments and subsidized prices.

Chiniot Deputy Commissioner Safiullah Gondal, who also has the charge of Administrator of DEA, toldDawn that a stringent and institutional mechanism of accountability had been initiated for poor performing and absent teachers. He said that District Review Committee meetings had been resumed after a lapse of two years in which each report concerning schools were discussed and decided on the spot.

He said there were 858 absent or late teachers reported during the last six months in which 187 were exonerated, notices were issued to 150, 346 teachers were fined, 195 were censured. Moreover, he said, recovery and refund of salary was ordered from 55 teachers, 10 were removed from service, while 3 were given other punishments.

He said the DEA also issued show-cause notices to 8 AEOs for poor performance and the focus of the visits was on learning outcomes. Head teachers with low learning outcomes were held accountable, Mr. Gondal added.

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2025