Fact-check: No, Punjab has not banned male professors from teaching female students
Officials from the Higher Education Commission (HEC), the Punjab government, and two major universities told Geo Fact Check that no such policy or directive exists
Updated Tuesday May 20 2025
Some social media users in Pakistan are sharing a viral claim that starting June 1, male professors will no longer be allowed to teach female students in universities across Punjab.
This claim is false.
Claim
On April 22, a user on Facebook wrote in the Urdu-language: “Good decision: It has been decided to remove the male professors from the female classes and appoint female professors from June 1, in universities across Punjab.”
The post has been shared 94 times and liked over 1,100 times to date.
Identical claims were also shared here, here and here.
Fact
Officials from the Higher Education Commission (HEC), the Punjab government, and two major universities told Geo Fact Check that no such policy or directive exists.
Dr Mukhtar Ahmed, the chairman of Higher Education Commission (HEC) in Islamabad, the government-run body that regulates higher education in the country, told Geo Fact Check over the phone that the Commission has not issued any such instructions.
Noor ul Huda, the public relations officer (PRO) of the minister for the Punjab higher education, also told Geo Fact Check over the phone that this was “fake news”.
“There is not that much staff. It is not possible by any way that all female [professors] go [to teach females] and all the males [professors] go [to teach males].”
Dr Salma Sultana, the director of academics at Government College University Faisalabad, and Khurram Shahzad, the spokesperson for the University of the Punjab in Lahore, both confirmed that they had received no such instructions from the government.
Separately, Azma Zahid Bokhari, Punjab's minister for information, told Geo Fact Check via phone: “It is fake [news], it’s not the case.”
Verdict: No such decision has been taken to ban male professors from teaching female students in universities across Punjab.
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