Fine arts teachers up for promotions expressed frustration as two of the district’s three fine arts teacher positions remained vacant.

The Sangowal Government Secondary School post is the only seat filled.

Although fine arts teachers were initially promoted in a list published in June, the list was later rescinded. Fine arts teachers were not promoted in the new list subsequently published.

Senior teachers in 18 subjects were promoted in August and September and took up their duties as lecturers in October.

A teacher from a government school in Ludhiana, on condition of anonymity, said, “We were told to submit our promotion files in June and lists were released the same month. The Education Ministry said the list was canceled due to technical errors. In August and September, new promotion lists were published, but fine arts were excluded.

No vacant position in the promotion quota: civil servant

A promotion cell official said there were no vacancies for fine arts in the promotion quota. The official said applications alone do not guarantee eligibility for promotion.

Another fine arts professor noted a “growing interest” in the subject among students. “Two schools, MultiPurpose and School of Eminence in Bharat Nagar, have vacancies for fine arts teachers. With more and more students interested in fine arts due to social media trends and creative careers, it is disappointing that they are unable to pursue this path due to a lack of teachers,” said the teacher.

Ravinder Kaur, a government school teacher in Kapurthala who is nearing retirement, said schools in Jalandhar and Amritsar are also short of fine arts teachers.

State Finance Secretary and district president of the Lecturers’ Union, Dharamjeet Singh Dhillon, said he had contacted the Directorate of Public Education (DPI Secondary).

“We were assured that once the other promotions were finalized, those in fine arts would be taken into consideration,” he said.

Director of School Education (Secondary), Paramjeet Singh, was not available for comment.