Upholding standards: ‘Teachers take your job seriously’

Rana Mashhood tells Rahim Yar Khan district government to reconstitute school councils

BAHAWALPUR: The government will disburse development funds to heads of schools directly so they can initiate projects according to needs and requirements, Minister for Education Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan said on Tuesday. “The idea is to make the schools’ environment pleasant and conducive to children’s education.”

Mashhood was addressing a training session of newly-appointed educators from various schools at the Government Girls High School, Khanpur. The minister said that the budget for education this year was the highest it had been in the last decade.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has made sure that the education sector would not want for development funds, Mashhood said. However, the funds should be used to improve the quality of education being provided to children, he said.

“Facilities for students at public schools are far better than those at private institutions. However students from private institutions had outperformed students of public schools in every test.”

The minister said that teachers whose students did not perform well in tests would be sent home. “There cannot be room for negligence in this regard…teachers must take their job seriously.”

Mashhood said former school councils were being dissolved. He urged district officials to dissolve existing school councils and reconstitute them to include active members who would work to bring in new reforms and to improve the standard of education at public schools in Rahim Yar Khan district. “I would advise you to take the area MNA and MPA on board when deciding who to add to school councils.”

Mashhood told the trainee teachers that proof of the government’s commitment to education lay in the fact that the educators selected for training were highly qualified and competent professionals. “You have been appointed on the basis of merit alone…in the past, we had a host of teachers hired on quota basis…They had ended up running the public education system to the ground.”

The minister said computer laboratories and labs for practical exams in public schools must be well-equipped and functional. He said the labs had been constructed to provide students access to educational facilities. “We need to make sure that students have direct access to laboratories of all kinds.”

The minister also visited students at the Government Girls High School, Khanpur, and asked them various questions from their curriculum. He pointed out various issues with cleanliness and access to facilities at the school and told the relevant education officers to take action.

He said the government was focused on public welfare projects including those in the health sector. Elected representatives of Rahim Yar Khan had played an exemplary role in this regard, he said. Mashhood urged elected representatives to visit public schools in their areas and play an active role in constituting school councils.

He also met with the Rahim Yar Khan DCO and discussed several policy matters. Minister for Industries, Commerce and Investment Chaudhry Muhammad Shafiq was present on the occasion.

Shafiq said all government officials would have to play an active role to deliver the benefits of public welfare projects to the people. “We, the lawmakers, should ensure resolution of people’s problems by teaming up with the administration.”

Lawmakers Chaudhry Ejaz Shafi, Mian Islam Aslam, Masood Alam and Sardar Muhammad Nawaz Khan discussed with Mashhood various problems with education institutes in their areas. They told him that they would not compromise on upholding high education standards.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 17^th, 2016.