Punjab government promoting 300 English lecturers starts uproar as they have zero expertise in the subject: Report

More than two hundred government teachers from the master cadre (who teach classes 6 to 10) were promoted as English lecturers for classes 11 and 12 in Punjab, reported Indian Express. Of the 301 teachers from the master cadre promoted as English lecturers, only three have primary expertise and teaching experience in the language, reported IE.

According to the English daily, the remaining 298 teachers have taught students different subjects in classes 6 to 10. The promoted teachers were experts in different subjects, including math, science, social studies, Punjabi, Hindi, etc.

The Punjab education department has promoted 300 teachers as English lecturers, but 127 of them are science teachers, 102 are social studies teachers, 41 are maths teachers, 4 used to teach agriculture, and one was a physical education teacher. Interestingly, 23 teachers who received promotions had expertise in other languages, such as Punjabi and Hindi. According to the order accessed by the Indian Express, 16 teachers used to teach Hindi and 7 had expertise in Punjabi. Mint couldn’t independently confirm the news.

Teachers promoted as ‘per rules’, say officials

The promotions of the master cadre teachers were done as per the “rules”, officials told IE, citing that all of them completed their postgraduate course (MA) in English from a “recognised university or institution as per University Grants Commission guidelines”. The English daily reported that most of the teachers pursued MA in English on a distance learning mode.

Shortage of English teachers in Punjab

Due to a significant shortage of English teachers, teachers of different expertise have been reportedly forced to teach the subject in some Punjab government schools. The state government had no separate cadre to hire English lecturers till 2007. State government schools in Punjab are witnessing a significant shortage of teachers. Nearly 35 to 50 percent of the teachers’ posts are vacant in the state. According to a report by ETV Bharat, one teacher is teaching six classes in many government schools.