HEAD: Punjab asks ‘VIP teachers’ working near Chandigarh to go back to their original posting areas in border districts in New Year

Sources in the government said that 640 senior secondary teachers alone, mostly women, will be affected by the order.

“These teachers, who are on a deputation and currently serving in Mohali, Patiala, and Fatehgarh Sahib districts, will have to relieve duty by December 31 and go back to their original place of posting on January 1, 2026,” said a source.

VIP teachers mostly spouses of IAS, PCS officers, kin of politicians

Most of the officials, teachers, and doctors originally posted in the Pakistan border districts of Punjab get reposted in Mohali and the surrounding districts using their influence. Subsequently, this has led to a shortage of teaching staff in the border regions, prompting the government to take strong measures against deputation postings.

A functionary said, “These are mostly the spouses of IAS, IPS, and PCS officers, kin of politicians, who want to be currently near Chandigarh so that they can go back to their homes. Mostly, their children study in Chandigarh. When such ‘VIP’ teachers manage postings near Chandigarh, using their connections, the border area schools suffer. Nobody is willing to stay put there.”

Sources said while Education Minister Harjot Bains had issued the orders, a lot of pressure was being exerted on the government to withdraw the order.

“Let us see if we can manage. Already, we have not allowed any deputation for the past few weeks. But cancelling the existing deputation orders will be a huge task,” said a government officer.

Bains was not available for comments.

Proposal to incentivise doctors, teachers posted in border

Chief Minister Mann raised the issue of the teaching staff crisis in border districts in the Cabinet meeting on November 28. Mann had stated that the biggest grouse of people of border areas was that the teachers and doctors did not stay put in those schools. He said the people of the Tarn Taran Assembly segment raised the issue while he was campaigning for the byelection.

He had asked Chief Secretary K A P Sinha to work out a solution or form a committee to work out a system so that the government teachers and doctors stay put in the border areas. He mooted a proposal of giving incentives to such doctors, teachers, and other government officers.

Transfers and postings to border areas in Punjab have been an issue in the government for decades, according to reports. During former chief minister Amarinder Singh’s tenure, the then education secretary, Krishan Kumar, had formulated a policy of online transfers through an automatic queue.

Kumar made it mandatory for newly recruited teachers to be posted in border districts. The system worked until he remained the secretary of the department. But once he moved out, the issue of vacancies in border districts resurfaced.