Teachers afraid of failing; more than 40,000 teachers in Punjab boycott the assessment test.
The School Education Department (SED) planned the Training Need Assessment (TNA) test for Saturday in order to determine the need for training, but Punjabi teachers have boycotted it. In order to facilitate online MCQ-based examinations, the government released an app created by PMIU-PESRP; nonetheless, only 80 of 43,000 teachers took the test.
There was a lot of opposition, according to Punjab Teachers Union General Secretary Rana Liaqat, who blamed the poor turnout on problems with the English format of the test, a lack of time for preparation, and restricted access to the required equipment.
With only three days’ notice, Liaqat saw that many teachers lacked internet connection and Android cellphones.
He added that 13,000 schools had already been outsourced and that instructors may lose their jobs if they didn’t pass the test, indicating that the government’s ultimate goal was to privatise education.
The government was only outsourcing management in a few schools to raise educational standards, not privatising them, according to Punjab’s School Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat, who responded to accusations of privatisation.
He justified the necessity of assessments, saying that since taxpayers have made such a large investment in education, accountability is crucial. By claiming that these initiatives are meant to guarantee high-quality education, Hayat bolstered popular confidence. In response to union-led charges, he also promised that transfers and school assignments were conducted openly and without partiality.
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