LAHORE: Rana Sikandar Hayat, Punjab Education Minister, has announced punitive action against public schoolteachers whose students consistently performed poorly in board examinations across the province.
The minister, who is currently in the US, took to social media and revealed that for the first time, the department is conducting a comprehensive analysis of Grade 9 and 10 results across the province. Rana Sikandar further observed that the action would be based on this analysis and would begin from his own hometown and tehsil, Pattoki, district Kasur.
“We have shortlisted schools with horrible results year after year, costing the citizens of Punjab billions of rupees with almost zero output,” the minister wrote. He added that teachers responsible for consistently poor performance would face removal from service as punishment.
Rana Sikandar also shared a handwritten list compiled by his team, detailing initial findings from 13 public schools of Tehsil Pattoki’s Grade 9 results announced recently.
According to the list, in Govt High School, Pattoki, 400 students took the exams, and only 98 of them passed.
This means the pass percentage was 24.5% in that school. In another school, 276 students appeared for the exams, but only 38 passed, resulting in a pass percentage of about 13.8%.
Similarly, from a third school, 170 students appeared, and just 16 passed, which is a pass percentage of approximately 9.4%. From Govt High School, GulzarJagir, another school in the minister’s hometown and shared via the list, only 18 students appeared in the 9th Class (Secondary School Certificate) Annual Examinations 2025 and just one of them passed (5.6%).
The minister’s statement sparked both praise and criticism on social media. Supporters called the move long overdue, especially given the rapid growth of private schools and the declining public trust in government institutions.
They said accountability was essential to improve standards. Critics, however, argued that the decision unfairly targeted teachers for problems rooted in government policies. Speaking anonymously to The News, one teacher said the minister should have first visited schools in his own hometown and elsewhere to understand the ground realities, such as teaching conditions and resource gaps. He pointed out that only 18 students appeared in the 9th Class exams from a government school from the minister’s hometown, suggesting this low turnout itself raises questions about the minister’s own performance and oversight. Out of the 13 schools mentioned by the minister Sikandar Hayat, nine had fewer than 100 students sitting for the Class 9 exams. This shows that fewer students are choosing government schools, even though many of these schools have spacious campuses, especially in towns and rural areas outside big cities like Lahore. In a note accompanying the statement, the minister had also clarified that the department was also compiling lists of high-performing teachers and schools, who will be rewarded for their efforts. “Inshallah, they will be rewarded,” he wrote.
Published in The News on August 22, 2025.
