Punjab Set to Extend Contracts for Thousands of Teacher Interns

Punjab’s education department is preparing to extend the contracts of School Teacher Interns and College Teacher Interns serving across the province, a move that could affect tens of thousands of teaching staff.

Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat confirmed the plan, saying the government intends to extend STI and CTI contracts to keep continuity in classrooms while also acknowledging how these teachers have performed during their time in schools and colleges.

Before any extension goes through, the department is comparing performance records for STIs and CTIs. According to the minister, close to 90 percent of interns have delivered strong performance during their contractual period.

A separate policy already rolled out for colleges lays out how this evaluation process will actually work. Principals will assess temporary teachers against five criteria, academic results, conduct, attendance, discipline, and other performance factors.

Teachers who meet the required standard get to stay on without reapplying through a fresh hiring round. Those who don’t meet the bar will be replaced through new recruitment instead.

Performance records are also being compiled centrally, so the department has a complete picture of how each intern has performed, not just isolated reports from individual schools or colleges.

The STI programme itself has grown substantially over the past year. An earlier recruitment drive doubled the total STI workforce to around 24,000 positions, which puts the current scale of teaching interns in the province in a similar range to the number now being discussed for contract extensions.

The government has not announced a specific date for when the final extension notification will be issued. Officials have said only that the decision will follow once the performance comparison between STIs and CTIs is complete.

Separately, the minister said pending payments owed to Punjab Education Foundation and Punjab School Reorganization Program schools will be cleared within the next 10 days, addressing another concern raised by teaching staff in these programmes.