Libraries, computers not yet a school norm

Thousands of students lack facilities

LAHORE:

The students of around one-fourth government schools in Punjab are deprived of the facility of a library, while 14 per cent lack computer laboratories.

An assessment report compiled by the Punjab Schools Education Department after the conducting a survey in all districts of the province also revealed that 14 per cent of the schools were without computer laboratories.

The lack of facilities is a matter of concern for the teachers who area forced to teach computer subjects without labs as well as the students who fear that their education and grades in examinations would suffer.

The survey showed that the high and higher secondary schools, especially the girls’ schools, were affected more by the lack of libraries and computer labs.

The purpose of compiling the report at the end of the ongoing year was to assess the facilities missing in the government primary, middle, high and higher secondary schools. The survey was conducting at the district level of both the schools for girls and boys.

The assessment report revealed that the teachers in a number of schools were teaching computer subject without labs.

The situation was worst in the remote districts where students who had never seen a computer had bene taught the subject just from the books.

The availability of computer labs is essential in the high and higher secondary schools, but while modern educational institutions are teaching online and through computers, there are thousands of students in the government sector who lack access to a computer.

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"The assessment report revealed that around 14% school students are facing unavailability of computer labs, while the subject is a part of the syllabus. Similarly, many schools are without libraries,” said a senior official of the department while speaking to The Express Tribune.

"Condition of the computers available in the schools is also pathetic and many of them are out of order,” lamented Punjab Teachers Union Secretary General Rana Liaqat Ali.

He said the computer labs had been established in the government schools in 2009 and a large number of the computers were not functional now.

“The situation with respect to libraries is the same. To foster the trend of book reading among the students, there is need that libraries should be constructed,” he added.

The president of the Punjab Government Schools Association of Computer Teachers, Kashif Shahzad, said more than 4,000 institutions in the province required computer laboratories. He said lack of functional computers was adversely affecting education in a large number of government schools.

He said he had written a letter to the chief minister and chief secretary of Punjab about the issue that was becoming a major impediment in education of the students. However, action had not been taken to address the problem.

He said nine years had passed since online education had been initiated in the province and the warranty and licences of the computers and software installed in the schools in 2009 had expired.

He said the authorities in the schools department had cited shortage of funds to upgrade the computer labs but the subject was compulsory and the future of thousands of students deprived of access to the laboratories would be affected if the issue was not addressed.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19^th, 2023.