Technological facilities missing in govt schools

At a time when Artificial Intelligence (AI) has started dominating all arenas of the global landscape including health and education, students enrolled at government schools in Karachi continue to remain deprived of even the most fundamental technology, computers, which are mandatory for learning and applying the skills of computer science subjects.

According to information obtained from the Department of School Education Sindh, out of a total of 499 secondary and higher secondary schools in the government sector, 406 educational institutions do not have any computer labs, while the remaining 93 government schools claiming to have computer facilities for Class 9 and 10 students, have labs in a deplorable state. Therefore, a large number of computer science students are made to appear for their exams without any solid practical skills.

Muhammad Aman, Vice-Principal at the Government Boys Secondary School established at the Allama Iqbal School campus, revealed that they had contacted the Directorate of School Education several times informing them of the lack of computer labs and teaching staff at their school, but all their efforts were in vain. "In such a scenario, teachers have to bring laptops from their homes so that students can practice the theories," shared Aman, who is also a teacher at the school where 150 students are enrolled in computer science courses.

As per statistics obtained from the Board of Secondary Education, Karachi, nearly 55,462 students of computer science sat for Class 9 exams last year in 2023, while for the current year, 2024, 53,334 students appeared for the matric exams in the same faculty.

Confirming the seriousness of the matter, Arshad Baig, Director of the School Education Secondary and Higher Secondary Department, conceded to the claims that tech facilities and teaching staff were non-existent for computer science students at public schools. "We have only 10 to 12 computer science teachers in the whole of Karachi, while there is also a severe shortage of modern computer labs since the few labs that do exist have machines that are quite outdated," informed Baig.

According to data obtained from the Department Of School Education, only 19 per cent of schools have computer labs across seven districts of Karachi, where there are no labs in 93 of 123 government secondary schools in the Central District, 81 out of 92 secondary schools in East District, 35 out of 42 secondary schools in West District, 65 out of 83 schools in South District, 42 out of 54 schools in Kemari District, 83 out of 96 schools in Korangi District and 7 out of 9 secondary schools in Malir District.

Far from offering tech facilities for computer science students, some schools were not even teaching the stipulated list of subjects offered for matric students. When the Express Tribune contacted the President of the Delhi Government Boys Secondary School, where a student topped the matric exams recently, it was found that a fundamental subject like Biology was not being offered at all.

"In our school, only computer science is taught at the ninth and tenth classes while biology is not offered since no biology teacher has been hired at our school since the last 5 years. There used to be two teachers in the past, but both of them have retired. We have also informed the Directorate of School Education in this regard, but they have directed us to continue with the status quo. Therefore, biology is not taught at Delhi schools anymore," shrugged Masood Sultan, President of the Delhi Government Secondary School.