LAHORE: The Punjab government has resolved to employ 30,000 teachers for schools in the initial phase to alleviate the shortage of teaching staff.
The School Education Department (SED) is grappling with a deficiency of 115,000 teachers across the province. The most recent major recruitment of schoolteachers occurred in 2018 during the PML-N government, with approximately 400 to 500 appointments made solely in two districts, Murree and Mianwali, during the tenure of the PTI.
The PTI government also introduced College Teaching Interns (CTIs) to address vacancies in colleges, and the present government has been urged to adopt a similar strategy to address the shortfall. Fresh graduates were permitted to apply for CTI positions, with a monthly salary of Rs25,000.
However, sources within the SED indicated that the current government aims to engage the 30,000 schoolteachers on a visiting basis, with salaries provided per lecture.
To cover the salaries of visiting teachers, the government plans to allocate additional funds to school councils, which will also be tasked with generating funds to meet school expenditure requirements.
In 2022, the Punjab government had introduced a policy offering premature retirement options to all public schoolteachers aged over 55 years, provided they had served for at least 25 years.
