Sindh’s education priorities

Newly-appointed Sindh Education Minister Sardar Shah’s announced he was going to put his daughter in a public school

The newly-appointed Sindh Education Minister Sardar Shah’s announcement about putting his daughter in a public school has drawn mixed responses from the public. Some believe that this is a mere publicity stunt while others insist on giving him the benefit of doubt. Nonetheless, it appears that Shah will do what he said as he has already asked education department officials to look for a good government school.

But instead of doing that, Shah should enroll his child in a school near his residence. There are two benefits of this approach; a) he will get a chance to see the situation of schools in his immediate constituency and b) with his personal involvement, one school will become better.

However, his decision is a welcome initiative since it is likely to contribute towards restoration of parents’ trust in the public education system. A system that has been continuously neglected as politicians, government officers and other influential have no longer direct stakes in the system. These people, who run affairs of the government, enroll their kids in elite and semi-elite schools.

So, it is a gigantic task for the education minister to turn around a system that has refused to change for decades. He has to set the right priorities. For education governance, two chronic issues — absent teachers and missing facilities — need to be tackled on an urgent basis. Biometric attendance data is of no use if the relevant authorities are not willing to take actions against absent teachers. Instead of spending time on searching for reasons behind the unwillingness of education officers to work, the minister should get all districts and regional education officers who have served for more than five years on the same post transferred. Furthermore, a clear list of targets together with decision-making authority should be given to their successors, which should then be monitored on a regular basis.

Three rounds of improvements should be carried out. In the first phase, all government schools within a radius of 10kms from each Taluka headquarter should be equipped with required teaching staff and basic facilities. In the second phase, a crash training course should be held for primary schoolteachers at the union council level. Prior to it, a proper needs assessment must be conducted in order to address their particular gaps in knowledge, pedagogy and students’ assessment techniques, and the teacher unions should be taken into confidence beforehand.

Parallel concrete measures should be taken to regulate private schools. At present, approximately 39% students are enrolled in private schools but the School Education and Literacy Department of the Sindh government has not been able to pay proper attention to this sector. A significant number of disadvantaged children would be able to get access to education if just two clauses pertaining to private schools of the Sindh Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act of 2013 are implemented in letter and in spirit.

According to the Act, all private schools are bound to admit disadvantaged children not less than 10% of the strength of each class. But this is not happening as there is no such monitoring on it. Moreover, there are around 20,000 private schools in Sindh, of them around 8,000 are unregistered. The Act clearly mentions that no private school can operate without a registration certificate and if they do they are liable to pay Rs5 lakhs in fine and serve a six-month imprisonment. But we haven’t heard of any fine nor imprisonment imposed on any such schools till date. The Act also asks private schools to fulfil prescribed norms and standards. But there is no check and balance as the Directorate of Inspection and Registration of Private Institute don’t have the required capacity and resources to perform the mandated tasks. So, with strengthening of this institute, significant positive improvements are likely to take place.

Lastly, a process must be initiated to establish an independent institute to inspect and regulate all schools, both public and private, in order to ensure standard delivery of education services across the province.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 30^th, 2018.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.