The Punjab government has decided in principle to restructure its school education department into the north, central and south regional set-ups with separate secretaries and offices. According to sources, the government has assigned the provincial education ministry the task of implementing the proposed restructuring, under which the regional administrations are expected to operate from Rawalpindi, Lahore and Multan to improve supervision and bring decision making closer to schools and district authorities. The sources in the ministry said the proposed structure would have separate regional secretariats and Directorates of Public Instruction (DPIs), replacing the existing arrangement in which major administrative decisions are handled through the provincial department in Lahore. The proposed South Punjab regional school education administration will have its headquarters in Multan, Central Punjab in Lahore and North Punjab in Rawalpindi. It is estimated that the central region will have the largest number of government schools at 15,671, followed by south 12,308 and north 7,416. These figures put the combined number of approximately 10.19 million students and 302,028 teachers. Punjab's 2026-27 budget has allocated Rs600.78 billion to the school education department for current expenditure and Rs13.18 billion for development schemes, taking the total allocation to Rs613.96 billion. The department had constituted a Rationalisation Cell on October 1 to examine its organisational structure, sanctioned posts, staffing requirements, workload and overlapping responsibilities. The cell was directed to identify opportunities to improve human resource utilisation and efficiency. Its terms of reference included examining vacant and surplus positions and recommending changes to the administrative structure. In another development, the department has issued instructions for verification of the record of approximately 300,000 teachers and other employees registered in the School Information System. The district education authorities were directed to reconcile the employee record with sanctioned posts, actual postings and payroll information within a prescribed period. The sources said accurate employee record would be essential for determining the staffing requirements of the three regional administrations. However, Punjab Teachers Union Secretary General Rana Liaqat Ali said the regional structure would cause financial burden on the department. He said the move would not prove beneficial when all policies would be made at the provincial level. Child protection The Punjab government is set to constitute Child Protection Committees in all districts of the province. The Child Protection and Welfare Bureau has recommended committees comprising students, teachers and parents in government schools across the province. Chairperson Sarah Ahmed has sent the proposal to the school education secretary, seeking a protection and awareness system, and the department is working to establish the committees in all districts. The recommendations include teaching children about 'good and bad touch', physical boundaries and how to identify and report inappropriate behaviour. They also call for lessons on cyberbullying, harassment, grooming, exploitation, safe social media use and privacy. According to a report of the National Commission on the Rights of Child, police registered 17,348 cases of sexual offences against children nationwide during 2025 with Punjab accounting for nearly 74 per cent. The report says Punjab Police registered 33,449 FIRs relating to child rights violations and sexual abuse in 2025, while 4,727 convictions were recorded. The FIR figure covers a wider range of offences and does not mean all 33,449 cases involved sexual abuse. The Punjab Police had arrest of a private school principal in Lodhran in November 2024 over allegations of sexually assaulting a seventh grade student. According to the police, the child had remained silent for months before telling her parents. In April last year, a school principal in Kot Addu had been booked over an alleged attempt to rape a fourth grade student. A month later, a madrassa teacher in Muzaffargarh was arrested for raping an 11-year-old student. The policy question is sharpened by an earlier government measure as In October 2025 The school education department had directed government schools in October 2025 to form anti-harassment committees within 30 days. The committees had to receive complaints confidentially, protect complainants, conduct fair inquiries and report to district education authorities. The new proposal adds child and parental participation, preventive education and online safety. According to experts, the new system would require a confidential, friendly way to report abuse without confronting an offender or disclosing details before classmates. "There is a need for the child protection helpline 1121 to be publicised, while the good and bad touch lessons must be age appropriate and explain that abuse is never a child's fault. Teachers should learn to listen calmly, avoid blaming questions, protect confidentiality and report concerns rather than investigate allegations themselves. Digital safety lessons should explain grooming, blackmail and the risks of sharing personal images or information," said a former president of the Punjab Teachers Union, Allah Rakha Gujjar.