Punjab: Students excel despite teacher shortage
In the recent Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) examination results for Classes XII and X, students across the state performed exceptionally well in English and science. The average pass percentage in English was 96.12 per cent, while in science (including physics, chemistry and biology) it was 99.72 per cent (an aggregate of the three subjects). In Class X, the total pass percentage for students in English was 97.98 per cent and in Science it was 99.06 per cent.
Notably, there is a severe shortage of teachers in both subjects across schools in the state. Recently, reports and visuals have surfaced of qualified teachers, who have passed the Punjab State Teacher Eligibility Test, staging protests over no new recruitment. Over the years, government schools in Punjab have struggled with an inadequate pupil-to-teacher ratio. Despite these challenges, the recent high pass percentages in these subjects raise questions about the situation and highlight the need to address the issue with urgency.
Ashwani Awasthi, a government school teacher and district unit head of the Democratic Teachers Front, said until 2007, the PSEB did not hire English teachers separately. “There was no provision for hiring English teachers and social science teachers were tasked with teaching English. Last year, the department promoted 300 English teachers, but among them only few had subject knowledge. Even today, in several schools, especially in middle and high schools, social science teachers are still teaching English due to vacancies,” he adds.
According to data, there are 78,000 sanctioned teaching posts for senior secondary schools in government institutions, but only about 50,000 have been filled and rest lie vacant. A significant number of these vacant posts are for English, science and Hindi teachers. “In our school, four teachers are responsible for 500 students. The social science teacher teaches English and the science teacher also teaches mathematics and so on. It’s the same in many other schools,” says a government school teacher from Ajnala on the condition of anonymity.
Another teacher from the rural border belt of Ajnala shares that the veiled evaluation system covers up for the teacher shortage in schools. “According to the PSEB guidelines, practicals in science have been scrapped and internal assessments of 20 marks have been introduced, based on students’ responses and classroom participation. Also, the passing marks in theory have been lowered, as the 20 marks for internal assessment are now counted towards the overall passing marks. While this may encourage more classroom engagement, it also allows students to bypass practical assessments and compensate for any shortfall in theory marks to pass. Since teachers’ Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs) are directly linked to results, many teachers tend to be generous in marking students,” the teacher adds.
Until last year, over 40,000 teaching posts were vacant in government schools, according to various survey reports. Awasthi pointed out that since 2020, no recruitment for English teacher posts has been carried out in government schools. Yet, the results show the students seem to have overpowered the shortcomings of the department, academically.
