Dismal picture of official apathy
KNOWLEDGE EMPOWERS: Education department officials enroll girls during a province-wide campaign to improve female literacy. PHOTO: EXPRESS
and empty promises, the Balochistan government has failed to get its priorities right in the education sector as over 2,800 school buildings are non-functional in the province.
Thousands of such buildings lie derelict that were constructed at great expense in the far-flung and remote hinterlands but never ever used as schools.
Official sources told The Express Tribune that lack of buildings and missing facilities was one problem but lack of teaching and other staff was yet another problem as buildings had been constructed but never ever handed over to the education department or the department failed to provide staff for it.
“Education is our priority and we want to reopen all closed or non-functional schools,” Balochistan Education Minister Naseebullah Marri told The Express Tribune.
He said the government has decided to ensure the availability of teaching staff in all public sector schools.
“We have evolved a strategy to make these buildings functional as soon as possible by posting teachers there,” the Secretary Secondary Education Balochistan, Abdul Rauf Baloch said when contacted.
Most of such buildings are located in Barkhan, Dera Bugti, Kohlu, Killa Abdullah, Pishin, Khuzdar, Sibi, Naseerabad and other districts of Balochistan.
The secretary said that Balochistan Secondary Education Department has decided to recruit teachers on an emergency basis for the purpose.
Statistics obtained by The Express Tribune reveal that the number of out-of-school children in the province is more than one million.
Most of the out-of-school children are girls in remote areas of Balochistan, an official of the education department said.
The provincial government has allocated more than Rs83 billion for the education sector in the fiscal budget for the year 2022-23.
Most of the funds are spent on the payment of salaries to teachers and other employees rather than development of the education sector.
Secretary education said that the department was planning to recruit over 8,000 schoolteachers to overcome the shortage in the province.