The Punjab government has approved the summary for School Teacher Interns (STIs). The decision has cleared the way for teaching interns to report to government schools across the province this week.
Punjab Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat announced that STIs would begin reporting to their respective schools during the current week.
STIs to teach at different School levels
According to the education minister, School Teacher Interns are being hired on a temporary basis to teach in government schools.
The interns will work at primary, elementary and secondary schools. They will provide extra teaching support to schools that are facing a shortage of teachers.
Rana Sikandar Hayat said the STI programme has two main goals. The first is to address the shortage of teachers in government schools. The second is to provide young people with practical teaching experience.
The programme could also benefit young people who are interested in choosing teaching as a career. They will get an opportunity to work in classrooms and gain experience while supporting students.
Punjab expands STI programme
The Punjab government has taken several steps to expand the School Teacher Intern programme over the past year.
In November 2025, the Punjab cabinet approved the recruitment of STIs in government schools across the province. The move was aimed at filling vacant teaching positions through temporary appointments.
In September 2025, the provincial government had also decided to recruit another 12,000 STIs. This brought the approved number of temporary teachers at that stage to around 24,000.
The interns were offered monthly payments of up to Rs45,000. The amount depended on the school level and placement of each intern.
More recently, thousands of STIs were reportedly asked to continue teaching in early September 2026 while formal approval regarding their contracts was still awaited.
However, School Teacher Interns are expected to start reporting to their assigned schools this week.