650 headmasters in Punjab to go on mass leave on Feb 13 seeking confirmation of appointments

In a move to enhance efficiency, the school education department in Punjab directly recruited young people in various administrative posts in 2019 and 2020. While headteachers (HTs) and centre head teachers (CHTs) were recruited in the primary wing by the department’s recruitment board, block primary education officers (BPEOs) in the primary wing and headmasters and principals in the secondary wing were recruited through the PPSC.

Nearly all of them had till then been working as teachers in the school education department. They worked tirelessly though the Covid-19 lockdown and were appointed on a probation period of three years with the salaries of their previous cadre protected. Their annual increments of three years and subsequent placement in the pay scale linked to the present posts were to be implemented on the completion of three years, said department sources.

The HTs, CHTs, BPEOs and principals completed their probation in December 2022, while headmasters completed the same in January 2023. The competent authority for allowing post-probation benefits for HTs and CHTs are BPEOs, district education officers (DEO) of elementary education (EE) for BPEOs and DEO (secondary education) for headmasters and principals.

While HTs, CHTs, BPEOs and principals were allowed all benefits after completion of the probation period by their respective authorities, it is surprisingly not the same for the headmasters. “There are very clear directions from the department that the case of probation clearance will be dealt with only in online mode. Headmasters were asked to give files in physical mode also. But even after submitting their files some 18 days ago, their probation period clearance is not being issued by the DEOs (SE) throughout the state,” said Jaswinder Singh Bhullar, general secretary of Headmasters’ Association, Punjab.

One of the DEOs said the office of the Director of Public Instruction has given “telephonic directives” to DEOs to withhold the cases.

The headmasters’ association was told that the scrutiny of cases was being done to find out Open and Distance Learning (ODL) cases. Later, they were informed that the department was looking into cases of headmasters with pending inquiries. At present, they are told that it is yet to be decided whether their pending annual increments must be released or not, the association said.

“On one pretext or other, the department seems to be harassing the headmasters for no fault of theirs,” said a DEO, adding that while the entire focus of the department is on mission 100% for the upcoming board exams, these directly recruited headmasters are finding it difficult to proceed.

Kulwinder Singh Kataria, president of Headmasters’ Association, Punjab, has urged the education minister to pay heed to their genuine demands and direct the DEOs to clear their probation cases.