Nearly Half of Punjab’s Public Colleges Are Without Principals

Punjab, a province in Pakistan, is currently facing a major issue in its public education system. Nearly half of the public sector colleges, 401 out of 825, do not have principals. This problem affects colleges for both boys and girls across 36 districts.

Key Issues

The Higher Education Department (HED) is trying to increase student enrollment in these colleges by 20%, aiming to reach a total of 800,000 students. However, with so many principal positions vacant, achieving this goal seems challenging. So far, there is no clear plan from the HED to fill these vacant positions.

Currently, Punjab has 825 public sector colleges—377 for boys and 448 for girls—serving approximately 715,472 students in total (321,191 girls and 291,281 boys). In contrast, there are 2,175 private colleges (892 for boys and 967 for girls) that serve about 608,373 students, even though they are more numerous than public colleges.

Another concern is the large number of unfilled teaching positions. About 26% of teaching posts, which include lecturers and professors, are vacant in these public colleges. Out of a total of 25,651 approved teaching positions, 6,876 are still empty.

Calls for Action

Mahboob Arif, General Secretary of the Punjab Professors and Lecturers Association (PPLA), has urged Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz to fill all vacant positions in public sector colleges. He suggests promoting current teachers and hiring new lecturers through the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC). He believes that filling these roles would significantly improve the strength of public colleges compared to private institutions.

Faiza Raana, another PPLA leader, also highlighted that the HED is not effectively managing other important leadership roles in education. For example, seven positions of secondary board chairpersons are currently being handled by divisional commissioners because there are no permanent appointments. Furthermore, the HED has not appointed vice-chancellors for 27 public universities in Punjab, and 40% of director positions in college directorates are also vacant.

Additional Challenges

The education sector in Punjab is also facing issues due to the lack of a dedicated minister for the Higher Education Department. Ms. Raana has called on the Chief Minister to appoint a permanent minister to address these problems and support the 25,000 college teachers in Punjab. She emphasized the need for meaningful dialogue between the HED and PPLA, instead of relying on bureaucratic measures to achieve goals.

Vacancies in Principal Positions

Here are the numbers of vacant principal positions in various districts:

• Attock: 9
• Bahawalnagar: 10
• Bahawalpur: 13
• Bhakkar: 12
• Chakwal: 8
• Chiniot: 3
• Faisalabad: 21
• Gujranwala: 23
• Gujrat: 14
• Lahore: 16
• Layyah: 13
• Multan: 17
• Rahim Yar Khan: 15
• Rawalpindi: 19
• Sahiwal: 6
• Sargodha: 17
• Sialkot: 22
• Vehari: 13
• D G Khan: 12
• Jhang: 10
• Khanewal: 11
• Mandi Bahauddin: 11
• Mianwali: 8

This situation clearly shows the need for immediate action to fill these vacancies and improve the management of public colleges in Punjab.