Daily Times

THARPARKAR: Aspiring candidate for NA-221 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that a prosperous society can be built if government institutions are depoliticised and in addition, politicians’ ownership in educational reform is ensured.

While addressing to PTI supporters and followers at Gadi Bhit Mithi, Qureshi shared  the reflection of the manifesto of PTI for education that can be observed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said that the dedicated efforts and struggle made the mechanism perfect in KP and the progress can be observed as there is proper enrollment of teachers, their regularity and increased enrollment in the five year tenure.

Furthermore, he said revival of non-functional schools, enrollment of out of school children, functionalisation of resource centers for teacher trainings are also the part of KP’s strong system.

PTI vice chairman said that PTI utilised the budget of governance of school management. “During our tenure in KP, we have updated many schools and constructed many new school buildings and provided basic facilities to urban and rural schools like to  electricity and pure water,” he added.

Qureshi criticised Pakistan Peoples Party holding them responsible for the destruction of Sindh and civic infrastructure of Tharparkar over the past decade. He said that if PTI can work for the KP people in the perspective of their education and can update the system, they can replicate the same for people of Thar.

According to Thar Education Alliance (TEA) report, the number of primary schools in PS-54 Nangarparkar is 604, non-primary schools are 39, middle school 32, high school 6 and higher secondary is 1.

Daily Times has learnt that, in Tharparkar, the educational situation is alarming. The government of Sindh has undertaken critical steps to improve the state of government schools by streamlining administrative processes that inhibit such improvements.

Primary, middle and high school infrastructure of Tharparkar is based on availability of satisfactory building, drinking water, electricity, boundary walls and toilets in schools which are not satisfactory.

Founder TEA, Partab Shivani, said that the situation of education of Nangarpakar is alarming, number of total schools in Polling Station 55 is 1068 out of which 218 are boys, 236 are girls and 614 are mixed.

He said that there is only one Girls high school in PS 55. 19 percent schools are temporarily closed whereas 3 percent are permanently closed. Furthermore, only 37 percent of total enrolled students are girls and there is lack of basic facilities like toilet, water, electricity and boundary walls.

Partab said that in Nangarpakar, the average score of language, science and maths subject is below passing marks. There is huge shortage of female teachers, subject specialists, science labs, no any female TEO is appointed, funds are either misutilised or lapsed, there has never been any science exhibition held, he added.

UN Volunteer Wasi-ur-Rehman from KP informed that the education system in KP has upgraded compared to last 10 years. Wasi said that in KPK we have taken notices against those teachers who get regular salaries while staying at home. Certain actions are taken against those who took students to fields for labour work.

Prior there was no proper schooling system in government schools but now syllabus is same in both government and private institutions and specially Islamic education is included in the system.

Co-curricular activities like sports has developed a lot now as people show more interest in government schools and they prefer government colleges and schools. He concluded by saying that all these efforts are totally free from politics.