End of autonomy? Education Boards to be transferred to Sindh Education Ministry

Minister calls for curriculum revision and update

HYDERABAD: The boards of intermediate and secondary education which have been operating under the governor and chief minister of Sindh, hitherto independent of the education ministry, will now function under the purview of the education ministry. The Education Minister Syed Sardar Shah told officials during a meeting at Sindh Text Book Board’s (STTB) office in Jamshoro district, on Tuesday, that a decision in this regard has already been taken.

Authority over the boards and universities was vested with the Sindh governor, until the belated implementation of the 18th Amendment in April 2018, transferred this authority to the chief minister. According to official sources, the minister said that after merging the boards in the education ministry, only universities will remain under the CM’s authority.

Shah asked the STBB’s chairman Agha Suhail Pathan to ensure that the board distributes the books among students at government schools. Pathan had earlier informed the minister that the STBB dispatched the school curriculum books to the taluka education officers for onward distribution to schools. “Not only the books should be handed over directly to the schools but a monitoring mechanism should also be established,” Shah directed.

He also underscored the need for revising the curriculum with updated knowledge so that government schools can compete with their private counterparts. “Currently the private schools don’t even allow our people to enter in those schools,” he observed.

The minister was informed that the printing machines procured in 1980s are still under use at the board, due to which printing is being outsourced through tenders to private printers. Shah asked the board officials to buy new printing machines.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20^th, 2018.