PHC Halts Teaching Staff from Taking Management Roles

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The Peshawar High Court (PHC) issued a stay order, temporarily preventing the elementary and secondary education department from assigning management roles to additional teaching staff.

A bench consisting of Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Mohammad Ijaz Khan instructed the chief secretary and the elementary and secondary education (E&SE) secretary to respond within two weeks to a petition filed by 24 officers from the department’s management cadre. The petition challenges the appointment of teaching cadre officers to management positions that are designated for the management cadre.

The petitioners urged the court to enforce the National Education Policy, along with relevant superior court rulings and service rules, concerning their cadre. They also sought an order directing authorities to “adjust” them into management cadre roles.

Filed by Jaffar Mansoor Abbasi and 23 other officers ranging from BPS-16 to BPS-19, the petition requested interim relief by stopping the department from assigning teachers to management positions until the case is resolved.

Respondents in the petition include the provincial government, represented by the chief secretary, and the secretaries of the establishment and elementary and secondary education departments.

During the hearing, the bench expressed concern that while teaching cadre officers were being appointed to management roles, management cadre officers were being made officers on special duty, receiving salaries without performing any work.

Advocate Khalid Rehman, representing the petitioners, argued that in May 2024, 24 management cadre officers were placed at the disposal of the directorate of elementary and secondary education to accommodate teaching cadre officers in management posts, violating the law and superior court judgments.

He emphasized that the federal government’s 2009 National Education Policy clearly separates management and teaching cadres, acknowledging that modern educational management requires professional standards and expertise.

Rehman further argued that the provincial cabinet approved this bifurcation of cadres, officially notified on May 4, 2009, creating a hierarchical structure for the management cadre from BPS-16 to BPS-20, along with terms and conditions for appointments and promotions.

He pointed out that the issue of separating management and teaching cadres first came before the high court, which ruled on November 18, 2009, that highly qualified teachers should not hold administrative posts and should return to their respective teaching positions. Rehman also noted that while rules for the management cadre were amended on April 7, 2012, to allow for the transfer of teaching cadre officers, the high court ultimately declared these modifications illegal.

He contended that the provincial government is obligated to implement the National Education Policy, ensuring the separation of management and teaching cadres for efficient performance and desired outcomes in the education sector.