Despite claiming the country’s best teacher-student ratio of one teacher for every 22 students, Punjab continues to face a severe shortage of teachers, with more than 31,000 sanctioned posts lying vacant in government schools. The issue resurfaced during the ongoing Monsoon Session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, where the government tabled vacancy data amid growing criticism from teacher unions and the Opposition ahead of the Assembly elections.Responding to a question raised by Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa, Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains informed the House that 31,370 teaching posts across various cadres remain vacant. The figures indicate that nearly one in four sanctioned teaching posts in government primary, middle, high and senior secondary schools are unfilled. Earlier, the Centre had informed the Lok Sabha that one in six teaching posts in Punjab was vacant.According to the data, 7,259 posts are vacant in the primary cadre, including 4,627 Elementary Teacher Training (ETT) teachers, 657 head teachers, 221 central head teachers and 1,754 special educators. In the Master Cadre, 20,378 posts are vacant out of 59,513 sanctioned posts, while 3,733 lecturer posts remain vacant out of 14,130 sanctioned positions.Democratic Teachers Front district president Ashwani Awasthi alleged that the AAP government had failed to fulfil its promise of filling vacancies. He said senior secondary schools had been facing an acute shortage of teachers for the past three years and claimed that many recruitment processes had not translated into appointments.Punjab DTF president Vikram Dev Singh described the figures as a “reality check” on the government’s “Sikhiya Kranti” campaign.However, AAP Amritsar Rural district president and District Planning Committee Chairman Gurpartap Singh Sandhu said the recruitment and promotion process was progressing rapidly. He said over 5,000 promotions of head teachers and Master Cadre teachers would be completed in August, while recruitment for 1,032 lecturer posts was underway. He added that legal hurdles in promotions had been resolved and principal-level promotions would soon strengthen school administration and reduce vacancies.