Doomed experiments: ‘Schools’ handover reflects government’s failure’

PTU says successive experiments have wreaked havoc on sector

MULTAN:

Punjab Teachers’ Union Multan president Rana Altaf Hussain said on Sunday that the handing over of over 7,000 schools to the PEF demonstrated the failure of governmental education experiments.

He attributed the constitution of the District Education Authority (DEA) and the handing over of the schools to the ‘machinations’ of the Education Department bureaucrats. Hussain said both “experiments” were doomed. He said frequent experimentation had wreaked havoc on sector standards.



Hussain said the pattern of examination had left students from disadvantaged backgrounds weary. He said hundreds of students were compelled to drop out due to the dismal state of affairs in the sector. Hussain called on Education    Department officials and lawmakers to ensure that schools functioned in accordance with the School Adoption Policy. He said they were in a position to effectively run schools as they were skilled and diligent.

Hussain said the education secretary had penned a 16-point letter in response to teachers’ demands. He said district authorities were victimising teachers instead of acting on the official’s directives. Hussain said hundreds of instructors had been coerced into retiring due to this. He said contracts of hundreds of other teachers had also not been regularised due to this.

He said the latest “experiment” of handing over the schools was destined for failure. Hussain said the move would jeopardise teachers’ fortunes and education standards. He said instructors would then be held responsible for the failure of the experiment.

He said the system of education was already on the brink of collapse. Hussain said favouritism had already led to individuals with political connections being named DEA chairmen. He said the authorities had been constituted to give legal sanction to political interference. Hussain said this would have grave consequences.

Hussain said heavy-handed punishments and hefty fines imposed on instructors constituted a blatant violation of human rights. He called on Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to immediately take notice of this and effectively discharge his responsibilities in this regard.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 4^th, 2016.