LOWER DIR: As many as 802 teaching positions, including those of principals and headmistresses, are lying vacant in 631 girls’ schools across Lower Dir district, raising concerns among parents about the quality of education being provided to students.
Talking to reporters in Timergara on Wednesday, parents of girl students complained that while they were keen to educate their daughters, a large number of higher secondary and secondary schools in the district had been facing a shortage of teaching staff for a long time.
They said several key teaching posts had remained vacant for years and that repeated requests to the authorities for appointments had yielded no results.
The parents urged Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and education minister Arshad Ayub to take notice of the situation and ensure the early filling of vacant positions.
According to official figures, the vacant posts include four principals in grade 19, 11 principals in grade 18, five senior subject specialists (grade 18), 300 subject specialists (grade 17), 137 secondary schoolteachers of various cadres, nine Arabic teachers, 112 certified teachers (grade 15), 39 senior primary schoolteachers (grade 15), and 201 primary schoolteachers.
When contacted, a senior official of the Lower Dir education department confirmed the figures and said the issue had repeatedly been brought to the attention of higher authorities.
The official said that, as a temporary arrangement, the department had engaged qualified local female teachers in higher secondary schools on low salaries to address the staff shortage issue. However, many of them left their jobs within one or two months due to inadequate remuneration, making it difficult for schools to retain teaching staff.
Meanwhile, political parties, traders’ bodies and social organisations have thrown their weight behind a nationwide shutter-down strike called by Jamaat-i-Islami on Sept 3 (today) against the petroleum levy, independent power producers (IPPs) and the proposed imposition of taxes in Malakand division.
Speaking at a press conference in Timergara, senior vice-president of Malakand Division Traders Association Haji Anwaruddin, accompanied by JI Lower Dir general secretary Shoaib Ahmad, provincial spokesperson Eng Yaqubur Rehman and other party leaders, said the petroleum levy had become an unjustified burden on consumers and should be withdrawn immediately.
He said frequent increases in fuel prices had triggered inflation and eroded the purchasing power of ordinary citizens, while the worsening economic situation had adversely affected businesses across the region.
Mr Anwaruddin announced that markets would remain closed on Sept 3 in Timergara and other parts of Lower Dir.
Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2026
