Golden Handshake Policy Rolled Out for Senior Teaching Staff in Sindh

The Sindh Education Department has rolled out a major restructuring policy aimed at improving efficiency in public schools and reducing the growing burden of surplus staff across the province. Under the new framework, senior teachers working in schools with low enrolment and excess staffing levels will be offered a voluntary retirement option through a “golden handshake” scheme. Education Minister Sardar Shah said that a comprehensive verification process, including facial recognition technology, is currently being used to determine accurate numbers of both students and teaching staff in government schools. Once the verification is completed, identified surplus teachers will not be retained in active service and will only be given the option to opt for early retirement under the incentive-based programme. The minister further announced that administrative authority for hiring junior support staff such as peons, gardeners, and watchmen will now be devolved to school headmasters to improve operational control at the grassroots level. Officials explained that unchecked and unnecessary recruitment in the past has placed significant financial pressure on the education system, and this reform is expected to streamline expenditures while improving governance. The policy marks a shift toward data-driven decision-making and tighter resource management in the provincial education sector.