KP cabinet reverses teachers promotions amid ongoing legal issues

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) cabinet has overturned the previous government’s decision to promote more than 130,000 school teachers, citing legal and administrative issues.

An official statement released after the cabinet meeting on January 17, 2023, chaired by Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, announced that the decision to upgrade various educational cadre employees in the education department has been withdrawn due to legal and administrative issues identified by the finance department.

Previously, under former Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, a significant upgrade had been implemented for KP primary teacher positions, raising their grades from BPS-12 to BPS-14 and benefiting 51,736 teachers across the province.

The upgrade also included 18,000 teachers in BPS-14, 21,300 teachers in BPS-15, over 22,000 secondary school teachers in BPS-17, and certified teachers in BPS-15.

The reversal of the policy decision has triggered discussions about its impact on the educational sector in KP. The upgrades were initially aimed at boosting teachers’ morale and financial status.

However, the finance department’s identification of legal and administrative anomalies led the current administration to reassess and ultimately reverse these upgrades.

While the specifics of these anomalies have not been detailed, they were considered significant enough to warrant a complete rollback of the previous decision.

The reversal has evoked mixed reactions. Some stakeholders argue that the rollback is necessary to address the identified issues and ensure that any future upgrades are correctly implemented.