Model school plan remains a non-starter

Scheme was aimed at upgrading 10 govt institutions

LAHORE:

A model schools plan of the previous Punjab government could not take off in several districts in two and a half years after its announcements.

Under the plan, the government intended to develop 10 schools in each of the 36 districts of Punjab as model educational institutions.

In the first phase of the project, the government had to set up 110 model schools in 11 districts, including Lahore. However, the authorities concerned could not set up even half the planned number of model schools.

The project envisaged provision of the best infrastructure compatible with international standards at the selected schools, including information technology labs, libraries, sports facilities and qualified teachers. However, the scheme of still confined to documents.

The previous government gave deadlines four times for the completion of the plan but failed to meet the target each time.

The plan to establish 10 model schools in each district was considered an important initiative that was mentioned repeatedly as beneficial for the students, parents and teachers of the province but its implementation did not become a priority of the rulers.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government started a number of plans in the education sector, including uniform syllabus in the province's schools, Insaf School Project, e- transfer policy, Insaf afternoon schools, compulsory teaching of holy Quran in schools and a programme for curbing the dropout rate.

A senior officer of Punjab School Education Department told The Express Tribune that 10 schools of Lahore district were also included in the project that could not be implemented. "The situation of the education sector in Lahore is better than other parts of the province, where no government school exists with the standards of a model institution," the official said.

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He said the aim of the initiative was to introduce a modern education standard in local schools, as well as to raise the standard of government institutions to compete with the private schools. "Through this project, the government wanted to persuade parents to send their children to government schools and in this connection we also started an advertisement campaign to reduce the dropout ratio in Punjab's schools," he added.

This official expressed disappointment over the failure of the project. A teacher, Musarat Malik, said there were around 60,000 government schools in Punjab and only a few of them had to be upgraded under the project that could not be accomplished.

She said the government schools in Punjab had poor infrastructure and facilities. On the other hand, private schools were performing well, as is evident from the results of the matriculation exams where they clinched most of the top positions.

She said the situation was disappointing for government school teachers and students.

The teacher said the basic difference between the government and private schools was that of the available infrastructure and facilities.

An education official said an important aspect of the model schools project was that the shortage of teachers had be addressed in the first step.

He said the various issues, including the coronavirus pandemic, had hampered the measures planned to overcome the shortage of teaching staff in the schools of the province.