The blame game: With no teachers or buildings, Sindh schools cease to exist

Teachers accuse that there are no school buildings while nepotism within boards is on the rise.

HYDERABAD: With over 2,000 schools shut and more than a double of them in worse working conditions, the education minister blames the civil society and elected representatives for not playing their part.

"No one, not even education officials, are taking up responsibility to reopen the closed schools and make the others of use," education minister Nisar Khuhro said at a teachers' oath-taking ceremony held in Mirpurkhas on Saturday. Around 54 newly appointed teachers took an oath in front of the minister, who gave out job orders to teachers across Mirpurkhas division and Jamshoro district. The teachers were appointed under higher secondary teacher job orders.

A month back, the Sindh education department submitted a report to the Sindh High Court, which revealed that at least 4,540 schools were not in working order, while 2,181 were shut all over the province.

Of blames, allegations

"Unless all stakeholders, such as, parents, teachers, civil society, elected representatives and the officials don't work together to ameliorate the system, no change will come about," said Khuhro. The education minister also pointed out the difficulties in filling vacant posts of teachers in the province. "The education officials are working quite slowly in doing groundwork."

He said he had directed all district recruitment committees to submit reports about their recruitment needs by October 15. However, only Tando Muhammad Khan district so far has submitted that report, he added. "We have to appoint teachers on around 20,000 posts - 12,000 for primary section, 7,000 for junior section and 1,000 for higher secondary section - in phases," he said. "The activity so far has not picked up," Khuhro said accusing the education officials. He said the October 15 deadline has been extended to October 30 after which action will be taken against the officials.

Where to teach?

The minister's justifications for not being able to fill the posts, however, did not go well with the teachers. The representatives of Government School Teachers Association (GSTA) staged a protest to draw his attention towards the pathetic state of affairs in terms of facilities at the schools. "In all rural schools, only four to five teachers teach the entire primary and middle schools," said provincial president of GSTA Muhammad Ashraf Khaskeli. "But, in urban areas, the proportion has been vice versa."

He complained that most of the school buildings in rural areas either were in a tumbledown state or did not exist at all. "There are thousands of ghost schools, where the structures have been built but there are no students to learn and no one to teach," Khaskeli alleged.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 14^th, 2013.