Chandigarh, July 9: Recently, the Hon'ble Punjab and Haryana High Court cleared the hurdles hindering the promotion of principals from the lecturer and headmaster cadres. This has paved the way to end the long wait for principals in over 1,100 schools. Providing details on this matter, Democratic Teachers Front (DTF) Punjab State President Vikram Dev Singh, General Secretary Mahinder Kaudyanwali, and Finance Secretary Ashwini Awasthi stated that their organization had long been raising the issue of vacant principal posts.
The issue had gained prominence across Punjab and other parts of the country last year following a widely discussed DTF report revealing that 44% of principal posts were vacant. Under the tenure of the Punjab government—which claims to have brought about an 'Education Revolution'—these vacancies have now risen to over 55%, yet the government has failed to wake from its deep slumber.
The leaders further explained that the promotion process for principals had become entangled in litigation due to the failures and sluggish legal advocacy of the Punjab Education Department. Major obstacles included service rules introduced by the previous government—such as conditions for direct recruitment alongside promotions and a 50:50 ratio for filling posts—which were later rectified to allocate a 75% quota for promotions.
Subsequently, a court stay was imposed on the promotion process, citing a TGT (Trained Graduate Teacher) qualification requirement that had no actual relevance to the post of principal. However, with the court now removing these hurdles—subject to certain conditions—the path is clear for approximately 1,950 government senior secondary schools in Punjab to finally get principals. DTF Vice-Presidents Rajiv Barnala, Jagpal Bangi, Gurpyar Kotli, Beant Phulewala, Harjinder Wadala Bangar, and Raghuvir Bhawanigarh, along with Press Secretary Pawan Kumar, demanded that the Punjab government—through the Education Department—stop further delaying the matter and instead promote eligible candidates from the Lecturer and Headmaster cadres to the post of Principal in accordance with their respective quotas.
They also urged that the direct recruitment process be advanced by immediately issuing advertisements for the remaining vacant posts. Joint Secretaries Mukesh Kumar, Kulvinder Joshan, and Jaswinder Aujla, Assistant Finance Secretary Tajinder Singh, and Publicity Secretary Sukhdev Dansiwal were also present on the occasion.