Punjab SED falls 1.7 million short on enrolments target

October 30 is the deadline to enroll 13.7 million children across Punjab

LAHORE:  The Punjab School Education Department (SED) is likely to fail in achieving the enrollments target at the school level as around 1.7 million enrolments were still short in 36 districts of the province.

October 30 was set as the deadline to enroll 13.7 million children this year at schools while according to data 1.7 million children were left from admissions and the issue was brought into the notice of Punjab School Education Minister Dr Murad Raas.

As per data available with The Express Tribune many district schools failed to meet the expectations of the School Education Department. A number of districts of the province, including Pakpattan, Vehari, Sheikhupura, Multan, Lodharan, Muzzafar Garh, Rajan Pur and others were among the lower achievers in connection with enrollment and reason of this was said to be the failure and inefficiency of the chief executive officers (CEO) of districts education authorities.

The literacy rate in Punjab is on the decline due to the mismanagement and wrong policies of the Punjab Education Department and this is the reason why the department is far behind from achieving the admissions target in 50,000 schools across the province.

The last year, a target of 13.5 million enrollments was given to the CEO's of district education authorities and October 30, 2018, was the deadline. However, the data revealed that 1.7 million enrollments were still missing from the target and the chances were bleak that the target could be achieved by the end of the deadline. It is estimated that 30 million children between the age of five to 16 years were out of school in Pakistan while around five million children of the same age group were not going to schools in Punjab alone.

The Punjab government took several steps and started various programmes to improve the literacy rate but due to the poor policies, the target was unlikely to be achieved.

The sources in the School Education Department said the department’s top brass has issued warnings to the low achievers and directed them to ‘do anything’ to fulfill the target. A senior official of the SED said this ‘instruction’ would promote corruption and fake data of enrollments at schools.

He said the high-ups involved in the policy-making process were not considering the ground realities while giving targets to the school heads. Parents were not willing to send their children to schools due to abject poverty and engaged them in a job where they could earn some money to help their families. The lack of facilities and infrastructure was another big reason. “What can teachers do if the parents are not willing to send their children to schools? There is a need that parents should be convinced to send children to schools,” said Punjab Teachers Union Secretary Rana Liaquat said.