Sindh govt fails to address education crisis: PTI MPA

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Sindh Assembly member Rabia Azfar Nizami while speaking in the provincial assembly session on Friday strongly criticised the Sindh government for failing to address the educational crisis in the province.

As she adjusted her mike and timer, the house realized that some hard hitting remarks were about to follow. “Give me a few minutes extra,” Nizami quipped and the Deputy Speaker Rehana Leghari smiled.

Read Sindh’s child labour problem

“No nation can develop without a strong inclusive educational system and the nations which have not developed their education sector have become victims of corruption and nepotism and Sindh is a living example of this,” the lawmaker said in the opening remarks of her speech on Sindh Budget.

She said that education crisis has become a serious problem in Sindh. Poverty coupled with corruption has paralysed the education system of the province, she said, lamenting that education has become a privilege for only the rich.

Speaking at the session, she said there are about 20 laws for children in Sindh, including Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act, Child Protection Authority Act, Sindh Child Labour Act, Prohibition of Bonded Labour Act, but the future of 13 million children in Sindh is not secure.

Nizami said that 6.4 million children are out of school, 1.7 million children are working as child labourers, 700,000 children are forcibly enslaved by feudal lords for working in the field and only 4.5 million children are enrolled in government schools, from whom half are unable to get further education due to lack of secondary schools in their areas.

There are 49,000 schools in Sindh. Of these, more than 12,000 schools are non-functional. There are only about 2,000 secondary schools and 133,000 teachers for children learning in public schools.

The lawmaker said that according to a report of an NGO, Sahil, 885 children were sexually abused in various ways, 190 are kidnapped while 231 children are missing. Similarly, there are 81 cases of child marriage.

Nizami said that despite all the laws, the child of Sindh is deprived of basic rights. Education budget in Sindh is Rs326.8 billion which is 11 per cent more than last year. Development budget is Rs32.4 billion which was Rs27.5 last year. Only 52 per cent of the development budget was utilized this year.

She reminded the house that Chief Minister mentioned the rehabilitation of 4,000 schools. The Chief Minister should ask the Education Department where these 4,000 repaired schools are.

After getting the evidence of these schools, the Chief Minister may also inquire if those schools got the furniture. Schools have not been provided furniture in the last nine years. And on top of it the CM of the province says education is the top priority for them, she said.

Nizami said that while the education department keeps a track of enrollment and teachers, the profile of education is not issued, because the government does not have the moral courage.

The PTI lawmaker continued that for the last 10 years, the education system has been handed over to the World Bank and the ADP. These agencies are taking financial responsibility for all the projects. The report on corruption in such development projects was published on several international forums. Transparency International complained to the Chief Minister about the purchase of desks for schools. In 2019, there was a tender for desks in which the price of one desk was Rs5 to 6 thousand, but those desks were not purchased.

At least 49 per cent of the population is female, but there are only 5,200 primary schools, 450 middle and 480 secondary schools for girls. Female teachers are most in need but are lacking in government schools.

Nizami lamented that quality education was not part of the government's priorities. Here in Sindh, teachers are recruited only to work for elections. She said that the Chief Minister said that 47,000 teachers have been appointed, but in real 25,000 appointment letters were given to teachers. There are 29 teacher training centers in Sindh.

There is an institution in Sindh called Sindh Teachers Education Development Authority (STEDA) she said urging the government to give it licence so that it could show some performances.

“Those in government should come to the opposition benches. We will take over the education system,” Nizam said. The children who have been studying in government schools have been deprived of education.

Regarding the state of child protection laws, she said that go to any SSP of the child protection unit and ask if he knows about child protection, the answer will be no.

More than 100,000 children are begging in Sindh, but yet we do not have the law against begging. “A shelter was built in Malir but it was also locked because your people do not want to work,” Nizami said reprimanding the Sindh government. Child marriages were reported in 81 cases last year. This assembly made the law of child marriage but no one talks about it in the court, she said.