Education Crisis: Teacher Shortages, Low Literacy Rates

Teacher organizations, including the Democratic Teacher’s Front (DTF), criticized the Panjab government’s preference for sending teachers to Singapore or Finland over strengthening District Institutes of Educational Training (DIETs), which struggle with staff shortages. Despite a 2022 announcement to upgrade DIETs into ‘Centres of Excellence’ at a cost of USD 1.7M, progress has stalled. At the senior secondary level, 44% of Panjab’s 1,927 schools lack principals, with over 50% of schools in 10 districts facing similar shortages. Government officials blame a court case challenging the 50:50 ratio of direct recruitment vs promotions for principal appointments, but teacher leaders insist these constraints hamper any real advancement. Meanwhile, the newly released Annual Status of Education Report 2024 data indicates that although arithmetic skills in rural Panjab have improved—51.1% of class-3 children can do subtraction—while reading levels remain worrying, with only 34.2% able to handle class-2 text. Furthermore, 44% of class-5 children could not read basic text, though nearly half solved division problems. The numbers also show an upswing in pre-primary enrollments, suggesting parents increasingly see the value of early education. Critics point out these improvements remain uneven, as widespread teacher vacancies and minimal oversight hinder consistent instruction. Adding to the alarm, state-level teacher unions argue that countless educators remain assigned to non-academic tasks, exacerbating staffing shortfalls at DIETs and schools alike. With these compounding issues, teachers urge Panjab’s government to adopt measures that place local capacity-building above overseas training tours, fill principal posts, accelerate school-level reforms, and focus on bridging reading gaps. While improved arithmetic performance and rising pre-primary enrollment offer glimmers of hope, educators warn that only robust policy interventions—stabilizing DIETs, boosting teacher numbers, and addressing the reading crisis—will help sustain meaningful gains across the rural education landscape.