Pakistan: 44,000 posts of govt school teachers scrapped in Punjab province

Lahore, April 12 (IANS) The education department of the Punjab province in Pakistan has abolished 44,000 posts of government school teachers as part of its outsourcing campaign to the private sector. The move adds to the existing challenges and struggles for the citizens, who are faced with a towering inflation crisis, which is getting aggravated by consistent job losses in the private sector, and now the government sectors as well.

According to reliable sources in the Punjab School Education Department, it will now be up to the private sector owners to hire teachers according to their policy.

On the other hand, teachers say that the decision will add to growing unemployment among youth, who they say have been suffering at the hands of the private sector with salary cuts, job losses, layoffs and downsizing.

"The private sector has already been cutting staff or reducing salaries of the retained people. Hundreds of thousands of employees have been laid off. The reason they give is that business losses are forcing them to cut to the bare minimum," said Humaira, a school teacher.

"It's shocking to see that the government is privatising institutions. I work in a private school as a teacher. I know how tough it has become for us to manage. Administration is laying off teachers, reducing staff members, piling more work on us and warning us of being downsized if we do not work double in half salary, which not to forget is not paid on time," she added.

The latest decision by the Punjab education department comes at a time when thousands of young graduates were waiting for openings in the government sector institutions.

Teachers unions have been demanding the government to start recruiting and fill the vacant positions, which have been pending for the past seven years

There has been a shortage of at least 100,000 teachers in government schools in Punjab province since the last recruitment drive was done in 2018.

"The shortage of 100,000 or more school teachers in government schools has negatively affected the education of thousands of students. And now, with the abolishment of 44,000 jobs, severe impact will damage the overall education system," said Mishaal, a government school teacher.

Serious concerns have also been raised on the outsourcing campaign of government schools as the private sector would introduce new fee charges for the students, which experts fear may swell the numbers of out-of-school children.

"Government schools charge a minimum fee in comparison to the private schools, whose fees are at least 100 times more. Now, with 15 per cent of the posts in the school education sector having been abolished and outsourced to the private sector, the educational fee may also be increased for the students and it may force many underprivileged families to stop sending their children to school," said Syed Sajjad Akbar Kazmi, head of the Punjab Teachers Union.

Statistics reveal that there were at least 26.2 million out of school children in Pakistan in 2021-22. Moreover, Pakistan's unemployment rate for 2023 was 5.41 per cent. As per a recent report, at least 4.5 million individuals are unemployed in the country, while the unemployment rate has increased to at least 6.3 per cent during 2024.

--IANS

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