CHINIOT: The district education department has served show-cause notices to head teachers of 40 public sector schools for showing poor results in the Class IX examination held by the Faisalabad Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE).

The action was taken after 40 out of 79 public high schools in the district showed poor results, with almost half of their students failing in the 9th class examination.

District Education Officer (Secondary Education) Dr Khadim Hussain, has written a letter to the head teachers of these 40 schools, where students’ pass percentage in the 9th class exam remained below the 52 percent average of the FBISE.

In the letter, the DEO has sought an explanation from the head teachers for the poor academic performance of these schools, saying “why not disciplinary action be taken against you under the rules”.

As per official record, 15 schools of Chiniot tehsil, 15 of Lalian and 10 of Bhowana tehsil showed less than 52 pass percentage.

The Government High School Chak 210-JB, Bhowana, had the lowest pass percentage of 13.58, where 81 students appeared in the 9th class examination, out of which only 11 passed.

Of the there government high schools in Chiniot city, Government High School Chiniot showed only 40 pass percentage, with 273 out of 674 students passing the exam. Government Islamia High School had 37 pass percentage, where 94 of 254 students passed, while Government Al-Islah High Schools only 25pc of the students passed the 9th class board examinations.

Commenting on the situation, Safdar Siraj Kalru, president of the Punjab Teachers’ Union defending the teachers, blamed the government for poor results, arguing that teachers aer assigned extra duties like administering polio drops and census, which shift their focus from their core job.

Moreover, he says, many of the poor performing high schools are working without regular head teachers where the senior teachers have been given the charge, affecting their performance.

He deplores that no new recruitment of teachers has been made in last five years, resulting in many of the posts lying vacant in every school.

He also blamed promotion of students of nursery class to 8th class to next grades without holding exams during Covid-19 pandemic for poor results in FBISE exams.

Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Asif Raza, who is also administrator of the District Education Authority, says he has sought a report from the CEO about the reasons for the poor results, with recommendations to improve the quality of teaching in the public sector schools.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2023