School Education Landscape in Punjab: A Year of Disappointments
Punjab’s school education sector faced a challenging year 2023 with severe repercussions. Around 120,000 teacher positions remained unfilled, deeply impacting academic activities, and leaving millions of children without proper education. Instances of teachers’ protests being mishandled compounded the distress, becoming a stark memory of the year.
Moreover, environmental factors like smog and eye infections forced school closures multiple times. Textbook distribution delays, administrative instability due to frequent leadership changes, and unfulfilled promises of model schools worsened the situation.
A dire shortage of teachers in government schools, compounded by inflation, led to a notable rise in student dropouts. Infrastructure deficiencies persisted, with many schools lacking basic amenities like water filtration systems, playgrounds, computer labs, and libraries.
Despite proposals to improve schools and address issues like leave encashment, protests ensued, met with harsh police actions, causing further academic disruption. Additionally, the failure to regularize 14,000 educators’ service and fee hikes by examination boards worsened the year’s educational landscape.
The inability to meet enrollment targets and the closure of schools due to smog added to the plight. Furthermore, parents suffered due to exorbitant fee hikes in private schools without regulatory checks.
Rana Liaqat Ali, Punjab Teachers Union General Secretary, expressed deep disappointment over the challenges faced by teachers, hoping for greater recognition of their importance in society from the government.