LOWER DIR: The elementary and secondary education department in Lower Dir has dismissed 113 employees including teachers, clerical staff and Class IV workers over prolonged unauthorised absence from duty, officials told Dawn on Thursday.

According to official sources, district education officer (male) Muhammad Ilyas Khattak on Thursday terminated the services of four watchmen - Ubaidullah, Abidullah, Daleer Khan and Sanan Khan under Rule 4(1)(iii) of the Government Servants (Efficiency and Discipline) Rules, 2011.

Sources said that in recent days, the department had also removed a number of primary school teachers (PSTs) including Muhammad Sadiq, Tayyubullah, Mujahid Said, Muhammad Ayaz, Attaullah, Hanifullah, Aftab Alam, Maqsood Ahmad, Alamgir, Abidullah and Naeemullah for willful absence from duty.

Officials said that similarly different cadre teachers including CT, IT, AT and junior clerks had been removed from services during the last two months.

They said the employees had been served show-cause notices, but failed to respond or provide satisfactory explanations for their absence, prompting the competent authority to issue termination orders.

Deputy district education officer Muhammad Islam told Dawn that the number of dismissed employees had reached 113 so far.

TEACHERS’ PROMOTION: The Secondary School Teachers (SST) Welfare Association has expressed concern over delays in the issuance of promotion notifications for teachers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and warned of province-wide protests if the issue remains unresolved.

In a statement, association’s Lower Dir president Malik Imran alleged that the education department’s failure to hold Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) meetings regularly had deprived many SSTs of their lawful right to promotion for the last two years, with some retiring before receiving the benefits.

He said the DPC for promotion of SSTs to the posts of Subject Specialist and Headmaster was held on March 30, 2026, but the notification had yet to be issued.

Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2026