Academic crisis: Community schools at crossroads
Things are not looking up for over 15,000 community schools across the country. This is due to the provinces’ reluctance in adopting these institutions, despite the devolution of the National Education Foundation (NEF) to the provinces under the 18th amendment.
A source who attended the recent meeting of the Council of Common Interest (CCI) held on April 28 said that the council failed to plan the future of 15,000 community schools and the institutions run under the National Commission of Human Development (NCHD). It remains to be seen whether these schools would be run under the provinces or not.
The issue could not be resolved due to reluctance of some heads of the provinces including the Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif as he was reportedly unready to adopt these schools. He sought time from the commission, stating that it would be decided after discussions with provincial authorities.
Sources said there are 7,000 schools in Punjab under the NEF. The total strength of students in these schools is 24,500, with each school having one teacher.
The reason behind the reluctance in adopting these schools is the outstanding liabilities of around Rs600 million. The NEF could not afford to pay teachers’ salaries for over eight months as funds were not released by the government.
The council also discussed the option of termination of all the teachers, if provinces do not adopt them.
“In that case, as many as 15,000 teachers will become jobless and around 50,000 students’ future will be bleak”, said an official of the NEF. The official added that it was an option to terminate all the teachers and close schools on June 30.
According to contracts of these community teachers, they can be terminated anytime with a one month notice and without a reason.
However, irrespective of the contracts specification, the move would have serious implications on the teachers and students of these schools, said an official of NEF.
Meanwhile, sources said the ICC also failed to decide on the future of 15,000 employees of the NCHD and both have been referred till the next meeting.
NEF was established during Benazir Bhutto’s second tenure back in 1994. There are 15,000 Basic Community Schools under the NEF across the country and each school has one teacher and 35 students.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 6th, 2011.
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