Redeployment deepens staffing crisis

Punjab’s School Education Department ordered a fresh teacher redeployment drive on April 10, shifting staff by enrollment instead of filling vacancies. (tribuneindia.com) Under the new formula, schools with up to 30 students get two teachers, schools with 31 to 60 get three, and schools with more than 450 get one extra teacher for every additional 50 students. (tribuneindia.com) District education officials were told to move teachers out of schools labeled “surplus” and into schools with shortages. The order came from the Directorate of School Education (Secondary), according to the April 11 report. (tribuneindia.com) Teachers in Jalandhar said the staffing rule counts heads, not subjects, in middle schools that teach Classes 6 to 8. They said that can leave two teachers covering multiple subjects for an entire school. (tribuneindia.com) Kulwinder Singh, district president of the Democratic Teachers Front, said Lohian block has eight middle schools and most have only two teachers each. He said those teachers are already handling multiple subjects. (tribuneindia.com) The dispute lands as Punjab’s education department is also processing recruitment in other cadres. The department’s daily circulars page on April 10 carried a public notice on 2,364 Elementary Teacher Training recruitment, showing hiring is moving in some categories even as redeployment expands. (ssapunjab.org) Punjab’s school department website also shows station-allotment notices issued on February 16 for school librarians and a February 20 public notice tied to 832 Elementary Teacher Training posts. Those postings indicate the state is making selective appointments while relying on transfers and redeployment elsewhere. (ssapunjab.org) The state’s transfer machinery is already active. Punjab’s education portal lists transfer and posting orders and a teacher transfer policy updated on January 19, 2026, giving the department an existing system for moving staff between schools. (ssapunjab.org; ssapunjab.org) For schools in Jalandhar, the immediate effect is churn: teachers can be moved again, small campuses can stay thinly staffed, and students can lose continuity with subject teachers they already know. (tribuneindia.com)