More than two hundred 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 expertise in the language, reported IE.ย
According to the English daily, the remaining 298 teachers have been teaching different subjects to students in classes 6 to 10. The teachers are 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 ย teachers used to teach Hindi and 7 had expertise in Punjabi. Mint couldn’t independently confirm the news.
Teachers promoted as โper rulesโ, say officialsย
The promotions of the master cadre teachers were done as per the โrulesโ, officials told IE, citing that all of them completed their postgraduate course (MA) in English from a โrecognised university or institution as per University Grants Commission guidelinesโ. ย The English daily reported that most of the teachers pursued MA in English on a distance learning mode.ย
Extreme 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.
