Daily Times

This June Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah had claimed that his government assigned the highest priority to education. To be exact, Rs202 billion was allocated for the sector.

Five months later,students, teachers and parents hold a sit-in in front of the Karachi Press Club over the condition of a government school for girls Karachi’s Gulshan-e-Hadeed area. The school has remained without water, gas, electricity and even furniture for four years, according to protesters.

Those familiar with the state of public education in the country know quite well that most schools lack basic facilities. Recent studies have confirmed that half the schools in the province remain deprived of basic facilities like water, electricity, gas, toilets and furniture. Some don’t even have teachers, although these teachers do exist on paper.

For students who do have the luxury of a teacher, the quality of education is deplorable. In 2016, the average score in languages for Class 5 was found to be 32 percent in a study. For Class 8, it was 37 percent, while the average score for math and science was 24 percent for both classes.

It is quite clear that the Sindh government is at the very least — ‘mishandling’ the Rs 202 billion budget it allotted to the sector this year.If not, then the chief minister needs to give some explanation on why the girls in a public school in Karachi have to take their classes sitting on the floor.And what plans have been prepared to improve learning outcomes at schools. It is the government’s constitutional responsibility to ensure that good quality education is being imparted to children at public schools. It must sit down with experts from the academia and the civil society as well as elected representatives of the people to devise a plan to ensure that.  *

Published in Daily Times, November 6^th 2017.