E-Paper
Nearly 100 vacant posts, no heads; work takes a hit at Punjab education department
Most of the vacant posts in the Punjab education department are due have been unoccupied for the past one year
: Nearly 100 posts, including the top three of Director Public Instructions (DPI), have been lying vacant at the headquarters of the Punjab education department here, with most of them remaining unoccupied for the past one year.
Apart from this, as per the record, 14,953 posts of elementary teachers are lying vacant, while 8,200 posts of pre-primary teachers are unoccupied in various schools in the state.
The additional charge of all the three Director Public Instructions (DPI’s) - primary, secondary and State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT)- has been given to other officers.
The post of DPI ( primary ) is lying vacant for the past two years and at present, the additional charge is given to district education officer (DEO) Patiala, Harinder Kaur. The post of DPI ( secondary ) is lying vacant for the past one month and the additional charge has been given to Pardeep Aggarwal, who is working as director general school education.
The DPI ( SCERT) post is lying vacant for two years and at present, the additional charge is with Maninder Sarkaria, who is working as assistant director, school education.
The post of the administrative officer is lying vacant for the past two years, registrar’s is lying vacant for the past two years, the seat of assistant registrar has been unoccupied for the past eight months, the posts of 17 superintendents, 25 senior assistants and 50 clerks are lying vacant for the past one year.
When contacted, Alok Shekhar, principal secretary, school education, said, “I have recently joined the department, but will look into it.”
Randhir Singh, president, ministerial staff association office of DPI, said the work is suffering in the department due to these vacancies, but “we have prepared a demand letter and will meet the education minister in a couple of days. We are hopeful that the issue will be sorted out.”
The Punjab education department in Phase-8 of Mohali is running a total of 19,262 schools in the state, out of which 12,880 are primary, 2,670 middle, 1,740 high schools, and 1,972 senior secondary schools, employing 3.89 lakh teachers.
