Capital’s schools filled to the brim with students

Teachers, school administrators oppose move to turn schools into sub-campuses

ISLAMABAD: A month after the new academic year started, education authorities in the federal capital have reported that they have managed to fill all government-run schools in the city to their capacity.

However, this means that there are hundreds of children which have not been enrolled in schools and it could mean that the government fails to fully fulfil its obligations under Article 25-A of the Constitution — pertaining to the provision of free and compulsory education.

The 423 government educational institutions in the federal capital had a capacity to accommodate some 22,000 students. However, a survey had found that as many as 27,000 children were out-of-school in the city. With education a stated priority of the federal government, an aggressive campaign was launched to enrol all out-of-school children in the city.

As a result, many schools operating under the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) in the city have reportedly taken on admissions beyond their capacity. Efforts to enrol these students on priority has reportedly also put a burden on the regular admissions of schools.

In addition to admissions to primary classes including Montessori, pre-primary and grade-I, schools are facing increasing problems of managing admissions in class six and nine as well.

Parents of children who have completed until grade-VIII are frequenting different government schools in the city seeking admissions in grade-IX. School principals, however, maintain that they do not have space to accommodate any further students in these classes.

Sources in the federal capital’s education system say that such is the situation that even government schools in rural areas of the city are facing pressure for admissions for the first time in their history. They add that principals have reportedly been turning away new admissions because of lack of space and other resources.

In order to tackle the increased pressure on admissions, principals of model colleges have reportedly resorted to staging multiple entrance tests for students as they attempt to frustrate parents into looking elsewhere to admit their children.

Taking notice of the dire situation, the education ministry has reportedly decided to temporarily turn FG Schools located near model colleges into sub-campuses to accommodate the extra grade IX and grade X students.

As part of the new programme, two FG schools located near the Islamabad College for Girls in Sector F-6/2 will be turned into sub-campuses.

In order to tackle the situation effectively, the education secretary has tasked directorates of colleges and schools to prepare a joint strategy in this regard.

Schools Director Saqib Shahab, however, said that they will not allow schools to be turned into sub-campuses of colleges especially with the FDE in the middle of a process to hire subject-specialists at FG Schools to tackle teacher shortage and to raise overall educational standards.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government Teachers Association have strongly opposed turning FG Schools into sub-campuses of model colleges and demanded that the government to build new institutions since the step will deprive the schools of their unique identity.

Earlier in late March, the FDE and the education ministry had launched a multiphase plan for enrolling out-of-school children in the city. Under the first phase, 4,000 children who are between five to seven years-of-age were to be enrolled in the first grade.

In the second phase, In the second phase, 4,374 children between the ages of 8-12 years-of-age will be enrolled in schools, including 2,772 boys and 1,602 girls. In the third phase, 2,610 children of 13-16 years-of-age, including 1,875 boys and 735 girls, will be educated with help from non-governmental organisations.

No change in syllabus of taken over schools

In a circular issued to all deputy commissioners and district education authority chief executive officers, the Punjab government has decided to keep unchanged the current syllabus and administration of the schools and seminaries which the government had taken over in March.

“I am directed to request you that there will be no change in syllabus and administrative system of these taken over madaris, schools for the time being and till further orders,” reads the circular issued by the Punjab School Education Department.

WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT IN RAWALPINDI 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 2^nd, 2019.