Literacy for the masses: Working to raise dismal standards of education

School reforms in Sindh propose standardised tests, more accountability.


Zehra Abid June 21, 2011

KARACHI:


Rashid has never used a computer, but in his computer studies workbook for Grade 2 he expertly writes “Arithmetic Logic Unit is also called the heart of computer.” He cannot read what he has written, nor does he know what it means.


The seven-year-old is part of a large majority of children. Nation-wide tests of reading, comprehension and other key subjects of post-primary and post-matriculate students conducted by independent researchers show that 90% of students failed the tests in Sindh. Last year, the spending on education by the provincial and district governments was Rs70 billion or 19% of the total provincial budget, documents obtained by The Express Tribune show.

“The bulk of the amount is spent on salaries and rehabilitation of school buildings. There is a constant drain from  the budget in the name of school repairs. But whether these repairs are needed or have actually been carried out is difficult to verify,” the document says.

According to Sindh government’s statistics, there are 49,600 government schools in the province. Of these, 85% or over 42,000 are ‘one-room, one- teacher’ schools, which means five classes are being taught in one classroom simultaneously by the same teacher, who teaches Mathematics, English, Science and other subjects at the same time. Over 10,000 schools have enrolment averages of seven students per class.

“A one-room school cannot be called a school. We need separate teachers for all subjects,” an official said, adding that if all schools function properly not more than 15,000 schools are needed in the province.

Sources in the government say efforts are being made to tackle the situation. President Asif Ali Zardari in early March this year endorsed the basic principles for changes in the education system. Furthering that objective, a charter for school reform has been proposed, which includes creating school campuses, more accountable school management and standardised testing.

Creating school campuses

One of the suggestions is establishing comprehensive schools with classes from kindergarten to Class 10. The schools will have laboratories, a library, separate teachers for all subjects and sport facilities among other things. The documents propose that all large schools in the province be converted into comprehensive schools and that within three years there is at least one comprehensive school in each Union Council.

School management

Another proposal in the reforms is that headteachers or principals are given control of school budgets, hiring and dismissing faculty members that do not perform well. Moreover, transfers will only be allowed in “exceptional conditions,” with those conditions clearly defined. At present, teachers are able to get a transfer for a few hundred rupees, said a source in the government.

In return for giving principals more authority, the principals or headteachers will be held accountable for the performance of students.

“The principal or head teacher will have to ensure attendance in order to maintain the required level of student performance,” the charter says.

On the hiring of the head teachers, the official said: “It will not be too difficult to find a principal. We have some very competent people in the field.”

Performance monitoring

In order to ensure adequate monitoring of the performance of all schools, the proposal calls for defining minimum performance standards, including uniform province-wide competency tests for classes 5, 8 and 10. School principals will be held accountable for their students’ performance. The system of standardised testing is similar to the one introduced in the US by former president George W Bush as part of his “No Child Left Behind” programme. In the US, the tests judge how much improvement the students have made over a fiscal year. If schools do not meet the minimum requirements, they are penalised with decreased funding.

Partnership with civil society

Schools or cluster of schools can be offered to educational non-government organisations with a credible track record.

However, regardless of who is managing the school, the performance standard will need to be met. Article 25-A of the constitution lists free primary education as a basic human right. “This needs to be meaningful as well,” the official said.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 21st, 2011.

COMMENTS (2)

Alsahdiq | 12 years ago | Reply Making most of the illiterates, literate can be achieved through self help. The self help scheme requires regular coming together of the people in every locality to organise a comprehensive base to do all the good work by the people themselves to fulfil the need of the people of the locality through peoples' collective. Making illiterates, literate can be one of the multi purpose functions of the collectives of the people in every nook and corner of the country. Yes the attitude of the people need to be changed by each and everyone. The "Yes we can do everything through our self help" attitude need to be propagated far and wide by everyone and the attitude to leave everything for the almighty government departments to do should be discouraged at the same time. Who has to do it? We all are responsible so we all have to do it. Each and everyone of us.
Ali | 12 years ago | Reply Very good initiative, kep this up well done ot the civilian govt.!
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