LAHORE: Around 20,000 teachers working in 4,300 schools operating under the Punjab Education Initiatives Management Authority (PEIMA) did not get salaries for the past three months, leading to severe financial difficulties for them.
The situation could prompt many of the teachers to quit their jobs that would affect education of nearly 600,000 students and lead to closure of schools.
Teachers and school administrations said payments to PEIMA partner schools for January, February and March were still pending, making it difficult for the schools to pay salaries and manage operational expenses. They warned that the delay had forced many teachers to consider leaving their jobs in search of stable income.
The educationists said that the shortage of teachers could disrupt academic activities in thousands of schools and jeopardise the future of hundreds of thousands of students enrolled under the programme if the issue would not be resolved soon. They complained that they were being given assurances every week that payments would be released soon but the continued delay had worsened their financial conditions and affected their household budgets.
They warned if the three months’ pending payments were not released before Eid, they would stage protest demonstrations against the authorities.
Responding to the queries, PEIMA Chief Executive Officer Imtiaz Shahid Gondal told Dawn that payments up to January had already been released. He said the authority was in the process of releasing the February payments, which were expected to be disbursed within the next five to seven days.
Gondal clarified that the PEIMA were providing subsidies to the partner schools rather than paying salaries directly to teachers, adding that the schools were responsible for distributing payments to their staff.
Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2026.
