Plan to introduce Cambridge system in Sindh's public schools fails to launch

Total of 25 schools were to be built under the initiative worth Rs3.5b

KARACHI: A project that was initiated in 2014 as an attempt to improve the standard of education in Sindh's public schools by introducing the Cambridge system of education, has failed before it even started.  Due to the unavailability of staff required to run the schools, the initiative couldn't materialise beyond paper work. The project, worth Rs3.5 billion, has now been changed to the establishment of English-medium schools.

A total of 25 schools were to be built under the project, which now stands suspended. Hussain Soomro, the project director and director of the Reform Support Unit, told The Express Tribune that this project was started as the 'Cambridge School System' project in 2014, but due to the non-availability of facilities, teachers, students and staff, the name of the project has now been changed.

Under the new project, so far 15 schools have been built in Shaheed Benazirabad, Sukkur, Larkana, Thatta, Badin, Sujawal, Jamshoro, Naushero Feroz, Sanghar, Mirpur, Ghotki, Mirpurkhas, Matiari, Tando Muhammad Khan and Tando Allahyar, while 10 other schools are scheduled to be established in Hyderabad and Karachi along with other districts of Sindh.

Soomro said that the construction of the buildings began at different times and as such, their time of completion was at different stages. He said that the teachers will be appointed separately in this project and teachers from the private sector will be given priority.

Speaking about the facilities at these schools, he said that the schools would be housed in two-storey buildings with computer and science labs and a medical dispensary. The schools would also be provided with two standby generators and a playground.

According to sources, this project which started in 2014, was initially set to be completed by 2018 but its date has now been extended by a year. The tenders for the construction of the remaining schools haven't been processed. Two English-medium schools have also been constructed under this project. Soomro said that there was a strong possibility that the project would now be completed in 2020 instead of 2019.

According to sources, those schools which had been completed were to be outsourced under a public-private partnership scheme in April this year but that too did not happen due to the elections.

 

 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 15^th, 2018.