Panjab Govt. Claims Education System Transformed; Ground Report Differs

August

2026

Panjab Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains said that the Panjab government has transformed the state’s education system through a USD 241M reform program. Presenting the four-and-a-half-year status report of school education, Bains said that 36.4K students have shifted from private schools to government schools since 2022, reflecting the growing public trust in government schools. He said the government has constructed 13,920 toilets, distributed nearly 200K desks, built more than 9K classrooms and laboratories, and provided advanced computer laboratories in 5,012 schools, while all government schools have been equipped with Wi-Fi. However, despite the government claims, a report by Democratic Teachers’ Front (DTF) says the school education department is struggling with an administrative lacuna, with one-fourth sanctioned posts of District Education Officers (secondary) and District Education Officers (elementary) lying vacant in Panjab—11 of 44 posts. The gap is most severe in Malerkotla, which has not even been allotted the posts since the district was formed in 2021. DTF says 1,100 principal posts are vacant, constituting more than 56% of the 1,927 sanctioned posts, and at 110, nearly half of the 228 Block Primary Education Officer posts were also lying vacant. DTF Panjab president Vikram Dev Singh and general secretary Mahinder Kaurianwali said as a result, several districts were being administered through additional charge arrangements rather than by regularly appointed officers. Bains said the process of filling vacant posts had been delayed due to pending promotions. Additionally, around 180 members of the Elementary Teacher Training (ETT) Teachers Union, accompanied by their families, staged a protest outside Panjab Finance Minister Harpal Cheema’s residence over large-scale irregularities during the recruitment process of 180 ETT teachers. Police later detained the protesters. Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate is examining complaints by the Department of Social Security, Women and Child Development (SSWCD) related to the sourcing of food items by Punjab State Cooperative Supply and Marketing Federation Limited (Markfed) from private suppliers for the Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP) in anganwadi (day-care) centers. SSWCD had flagged that the sourcing of material from private suppliers by Markfed had led to several complaints. Till 2020, loose and raw ration was supplied under the SNP. However, after the pandemic, Markfed began providing ready-to-cook food items which it sourced from private companies (earlier coverage).