Nawanshahr: Headmasters Association demands fair promotion quota and backlog calculation for Principal posts
Parmod Bharti
Nawanshahr (Punjab), June 1, 2025: The Headmasters Association, Punjab has called upon the School Education Department to uphold the principles of justice and equality while conducting promotions from the Headmaster to the Principal cadre.
Citing settled legal precedents, the association stressed that backlog vacancies for any cadre cannot be arbitrarily erased and must be calculated based on historical data and proper quota allocations.
In a memorandum submitted to the department, the association also provided a detailed table showing the calculated backlog for headmasters and urged authorities to consider it sympathetically.
Elaborating on the issue, State President Kulwinder Kataria and General Secretary Jaswinder Singh Bhullar revealed that an affidavit filed by the Punjab Education Department in the Punjab and Haryana High Court on May 29, 2018, admitted that 260 lecturers were promoted to Principal posts in excess of the allotted quota up to 2014. Despite this, promotions from the lecturer cadre continued until 2022, with approximately 1,500 additional promotions being made.
In contrast, promotions from the headmaster cadre remained negligible during this entire period.
The association expressed concern over the department’s new alleged approach of determining the promotion quota based on the parent cadre of currently working principals, which they argue violates the right to equality and disregards legal norms.
“This method is fundamentally flawed. According to the Supreme Court, the backlog must be determined by examining historical records, not current cadre status,” said Kataria and Bhullar.
They emphasized that calculating the backlog using past data—from 1986 to 1996—and comparing it against the number of promotions made from 1996 to 2022, is essential for delivering justice to the headmaster cadre.
According to departmental rules, nearly 700 to 800 headmasters have now completed the required years of experience and are eligible for promotion to principal.
Promoting these eligible candidates would not only address the ongoing shortage of principals in senior secondary schools, they argued, but would also provide schools with experienced administrators, thereby supporting the government’s vision of improving educational quality.
The association also reiterated its long-standing demand to revise the grade pay for headmasters to ₹6,000, calling it a much-needed step toward recognizing their contribution and aligning their pay with the responsibilities they shoulder.
The Headmasters Association concluded its appeal by urging the government to take immediate action based on legal principles and fairness to restore the dignity and rightful career progression of headmasters across Punjab.