Daily Times

KARACHI: The posts of directors are still vacant at the Directorate of Primary School (DPS) and the Directorate of Higher Secondary Schools (DHSS) even after the passage of two years.

The Sindh government has divided the Education Department in two parts – the Department of College Education and the Department of Schools Education. But the Directorate of Schools is being run by officers of the District Management Group (DMG).

Around 3300 schools of the provincial city have no administrator. Since 2012, the Directorate of Schools has been divided in two parts – DPS and DHSS. Abdul Laftif Mangrio was the first regular DHSS director and last permanent director was Niaz Laghari, appointed by the Education secretary in 2013 and transferred to Hyderabad in 2014.

Mansoor Abbas Rizvi – a DMG officer – was appointed as regular DPS director with a look-after charge of the DHSS in Jun 2016. But he (Mansoor Rizvi) was transferred within three months of the same year and now this seat is still vacant as like DHSS director’s post.

According to the statistics released by the Reforms Support Unit (RSU) of the Education Department, the total number of 3300 government-run schools including 2700 primary and 515 secondary, 31 are higher secondary and 176 are middle schools.

Around 42,000 employees are working in these schools out of which 14,000 are non-teaching staff and remaining are high school teachers (HST), primary school teachers (PST), Sindhi language teachers (SLT) etc. More than three hundred thousand students have enrolled themselves in these schools.

Talking to the Daily Times, Save Education Action Committee Chairman Aneesur Rehman pointed out that the division of the Education Department was much better decision for the devolution of power in education sector. “But centralisation of power can be seen,” he said, adding that teachers and non-teaching staff were forced to pay bribe for their postings and transfers to the non-cadre officers.

After the transfer of the DHSS director in 2014, the Sindh government has transferred a ‘look-after’ charge to the DMG officers. The government has no interest to appoint regular directors in Karachi, he said. “We must know that these (DMG) officers have no experience to run educational institutes,” he said.

For example, “an agriculture officer cannot be a good educationist,” he said. Both the directors should be educationists and they must belong to the Education Department, he said. The Sindh government should appoint permanent directors in both the directorates, Anees demanded.