TAXILA: At least 22 headmasters and teachers have been suspended, explanations sought from the heads of nine boys schools, while personal hearing notices have been served on the heads of 42 different institutions in the district of Attock over poor performance in the recently announced 9th-class board examinations.

The District Education Department has launched a major crackdown on under-performing schools following the announcement of the 9th-class results by the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Rawalpindi, with senior education officials conducting surprise as well as scheduled inspections across the district.

Chief Executive Officer education authority Dr Mohammad Azhar, District Education Officer Secondary Education Altaf Hussain and other officers have led the inspections and taken disciplinary action against heads and teachers over poor academic performance, administrative weaknesses and other violations. Officials said, alarmingly, three of these schools had no student appearing in the 9th-class examination this year, raising serious questions about enrolment, academic continuity, institutional management and the effectiveness of the education department’s monitoring mechanism.

The education authorities have expressed serious concern over the unexpectedly poor results and administrative shortcomings and directed the concerned school heads to submit written explanations and appear for personal hearings to justify their performance. During the inspections, officials reviewed attendance records, teacher availability, syllabus coverage, academic discipline, cleanliness and overall school facilities. School heads were directed to ensure a clean and conducive learning environment, complete the prescribed syllabus within the stipulated period and take concrete measures to improve students’ academic performance.

However, teachers from different schools presented a markedly different picture while speaking to this correspondent, arguing that holding school heads and teachers solely responsible for poor board results amounted to blaming those struggling at the front-line for failures rooted deep inside the education system.

Teachers said the policy of automatic promotion up to 8th class, under which students are not failed, has resulted in academically weak students reaching 9th class without acquiring the basic knowledge and skills required to cope with secondary-level studies.

“Without a proper filtering system at the elementary level, weak students reach 9th class unprepared, and then schools are held responsible for poor board results,” a teacher said.

Teachers also identified the shortage of teaching staff, particularly subject specialists at secondary level, as one of the major obstacles to improving educational standards.

They claimed that no substantial recruitment of teachers has been made in the district for more than a decade, despite an increase in student numbers and the retirement of serving teachers.

“How can we ensure quality education and high results when schools are already facing a severe shortage of subject specialists and teachers are directed to cultivate vegetables during academic timings?” another teacher questioned. The shortage of subject specialists is particularly troubling at secondary level, where students require focused instruction in science, mathematics, English and other core subjects before appearing in board examinations.

Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2026