LAHORE, Oct 30: Some 3,585 posts of elementary and secondary schoolteachers across the province could not be filled despite hundreds of thousands of applications received by the government against them.

The unfilled posts were 2,658 Elementary School Educators (ESE), 161 Senior Elementary School (ESE) and 766 Secondary School Educators (SSE).

The Punjab government had advertized 30,000 posts for ESEs, SESEs and SSEs across the province.

The educational department officials said most of the applicants had applied against posts in the three disciplines and were selected on all of them. After their selection, they were required to choose one of the three posts against which their selection was made. As a result of which, hundreds of posts remained unfilled, they said.

They said they also had not received enough applications for the job of science teachers because of an unattractive salary package offered to them by the government.

On the other hand, a few candidates claimed that they had not received call letters in time. They said the government had received such a large number of applications that it could not sort them out and dispatch them to candidates in time.

They also alleged that union council Nazmeen had played a vital role in the selection of teachers. “Every Nazim helped some 20 teachers recruit in his area,” they alleged.

The government had received 10 times more applications despite enhancement of basic academic qualification requirements for the recruitment of schoolteachers both at the elementary and the secondary levels.

The new policy had rendered the matriculates and intermediate having basic teaching certificates and diploma unable to apply for the ESE posts. This factor, many believe, was the biggest factor responsible for over 2,600 ESE vacant posts.

According to the new criteria, the qualification for an SSE is MA/MSc and B Ed, M Ed/ or MA Education or MS Ed/BS Ed for science subjects. For an SESE, the required qualification is BA/ BSc and CT or B Ed/ M Ed, while for an ESE BA/BSc and PTC or CT, B Ed, M Ed.

Earlier, the qualification for SSE was MA Education/M Ed, for SESE, B Ed or BA/Bsc and CT, and for ESE, intermediate and matriculation.

The Punjab University Institute of Education and Research students who held a protest demonstration against the new criterion blamed it for not filling all posts. They said that their stand on the policy had now been vindicated.

The districts where ESE posts were vacant were Lahore (86), Okara (7), Sheikhupura (37), Jhang (92), Toba Tek Singh (4), Lodhran (22), Bahawalnagar (27), Bahawalpur (5), Rahim Yar Khan (216), Rajanpur (21), Sarghoda (35), Khushab (146), Bhakkar (96), Mianwali (67), Rawalpindi (249), Attock (686), Jehlum (20), Chakwal (135), Gujranwala (169), Sialkot (247), Narowal (1) Gujrat (240) and Hafizabad (50).

For SESE, Lahore (7), Okara (1), Multan (7), Attock (112), Gujranwala (20) and Gujrat (11).

And the vacant posts for SSE, Lahore (32), Kasur (3), Okara (28), Shiekhupura (36), Jhang (25), T T Singh (35), Multan and Lodhran (10) each, Vehari (15), Sahiwal (19), Pakpattan (16), Bahawalpur (7), Bahawalnagar (33), Rahim Yar Khan (22), Muzaffargarh (1), Sarghoda (93), Khushab (11), Bhakkar (24), Mianwali (5), Rawalpindi (14), Attock (61), Jehlum (22), Chakwal (36), Gujranwala (55), Sialkot (55), Narowal (6), M B Din (23), Gujrat (59) and Hafizabad (4).