Ludhiana: The primary education wing in Ludhiana district has completed a full year without a regular district education officer (DEO), forcing the secondary education chief to manage dual administrative responsibilities across more than 1,500 govt schools.The post of DEO (elementary) has remained vacant since Sept 2025 following the transfer of former officer Ravinder Kaur. Consequently, DEO (secondary) Dimple Madaan is supervising all 1,583 govt institutions in the district, comprising 994 primary and 589 high and senior secondary schools.School administrators, primary teachers, and union representatives highlighted that the absence of a dedicated officer is creating administrative bottlenecks, delaying routine approvals, decision-making, and daily oversight across the state’s largest school network.Teacher bodies expressed frustration over the delay, noting that while the state govt promotes flagship education initiatives—such as the Sikhya Kranti scheme, foreign exposure trips for educators, and Schools of Eminence—it has failed to fill the key administrative post for an entire year.“It is very obvious that the district has two sections and a high number of schools, considering which there were two posts for DEO for many years. However, it’s been a year or may be a little more without regular elementary DEO. There are a lot of issues, routine works which require a supervision and accountability process, for which the primary govt schools need this post to be filled as soon as possible because handling dual charges directly or indirectly affects and delays the working environment and growth of the primary govt schools,” said Sukhwinder Singh Leel from the Democratic Mulazim Federation, Punjab.Rupinder Pal Singh Gill of the Democratic Teachers Front union added, “The govt has its schemes like Sikhya Kranti for providing better education to the govt school students, but it is really surprising that a year has passed and the govt is unable to find any solution or a dedicated person for the post. The dual charge for both the sections should have been a temporary fix after the transfer. This requires immediate consideration of the govt and other authorities concerned.”Departmental officials also acknowledged the operational strain caused by the double mandate.“The schedule of current DEO is very tight as with double charge she has to supervise the working environment of more than 1,500 schools. No doubt she is trying her best for dual responsibilities but having a separate DEO for primary section schools would help to make the process more flexible and smooth for everyone as the students, teachers, staff is also high in number for the primary wing,” said Manoj Kumar, deputy DEO (primary).DEO Dimple Madaan could not be reached for comment.
