Chandigarh: The Democratic Teachers’ Front (DTF) Punjab has strongly opposed the changes made by the education department in the Punjab Education Services (School and Inspection) Group-A Service Rules, 2018.
The front demanded the immediate withdrawal of the amendment, which introduces new eligibility criteria for promotions to the post of principal, including a minimum marks requirement and compulsory post-graduation for headmasters.
According to the notification issued by the Punjab govt, candidates from the general category must now have at least 50% marks in their master’s degree, and those from the Scheduled Castes must have at least 45% to be eligible for promotion as principal. The DTF leaders argued that promotions should be based on experience and not academic percentage.
DTF state president Vikramdev Singh, general secretary Mahinder Kaurianwali, and press secretary Pawan Kumar in ak joint statement mentioned that many lecturers, headmasters, and vocational lecturers with the required years of service were unfairly deprived of promotions because of these new conditions. They added that under the earlier rules, headmasters were not required to hold a postgraduate degree for promotion, but the latest amendment created disappointment among many long-serving teachers who were waiting for their turn to be elevated as principals.
The leaders demanded that the “unreasonable amendment” be rolled back and promotions continued to be made on the basis of experience, as was the case earlier.
