Promotion of Master Cadre list revoked, teachers to move court

Amritsar, August 24

Blaming the Education Department for the fiasco in cancelling promotions of 688 Master Cadre teachers of government schools in Punjab, teachers belonging to the left-out cases are now threatening to take the department to court if not given a chance for promotion. Ten teachers of Master Cadre from Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Barnala, Bathinda, Jalandhar and Sangrur have written to the DPI School Education to process the promotions of left-out cases as soon as possible.

“Despite seniority, some on the verge of retirement have been waiting for promotions. Now, with the department’s intent of revoking the previous list of promotions and suggesting re-application for promotions by all categories might affect the left-out cases once again, which might lead to many teachers going to court against the decision. This would further delay things,” said Iqbal Singh, a Master Cadre teacher of Punjabi, from Government High School, Sultanwind, who was on the list and had previously gotten promoted through court. He has been awaiting promotion since 2022.

Another government school teacher of Maths, waiting for promotion from Master Cadre to lecturer, says that if the teachers go to court, the entire matter would be delayed eventually leading to several teachers retiring without any promotions.

The Education Department revoked the promotion of 688 teachers to lecturers due to major flaws in the screening process while teachers say that regulations were bypassed in 250 cases that were ineligible for promotions. A Master Cadre teacher gets promoted to lecturer. Similarly, around 200 ETT teachers from Amritsar are also waiting for promotions for the last three years.