(Lazy) Afternoon shifts: Public schools stay open but fail to enrol students

Govt spends Rs315m each month on 9,500 teachers who have no students.

KARACHI:

With over 700 public schools offering classes in the afternoon, there is no shortage of educational establishments for those who want to study. But despite the lure of ‘free’ education and availability of teachers, enrolment at 90 per cent of these schools is nil.

A survey conducted by The Express Tribune in Karachi’s five districts revealed the deplorable condition of the public-sector education, which was also confirmed by the education department’s officials.

The drop in enrolment wasn’t overnight - students stopped coming to the afternoon shifts gradually over the last 15 years or so. Even then, the government continues to dish out Rs315 million each month from the tax payers’ money to over 9,500 appointed teachers. At the same time, no step by the provincial government stands out which would indicate that a conscious effort has been made to increase enrolments at these schools.



In essence, the schools are open to conduct classes in the afternoon shift. In reality, teachers can be seen at the schools but have no students to teach. Instead, they kill time in the staff rooms by flipping through newspapers and digests or having lunch.

Then there are those schools which close after the morning shift — not a single appointed teacher, including the headmaster or the headmistress, are present during their duty hours.

State of desolation

“Public-sector education has become an oxymoron in this country - there is education, but no public,” said Anees Fatima, who has been posted as the headmistress at Jamia Tajia Government Boys High School in North Nazimabad for a year now. In that one year, she has only seen one student. “From distributing pamphlets at mosques and residences to putting up banners at different places, I personally did everything to attract students but parents do not bother. I have exhausted all options and now I have given up. I want the education department to transfer me to some other school.”



Fatima recalled the late 1980s when she was among the 70 teachers who catered to around 4,000 students at a public school in Larkana. “I even taught chemistry to Education Minister Nisar Amed Khuhro’s daughter at that school. But today, even those who earn their butter and bread through the education department, prefer to send their children to private schools.”

Sobia Obaid, the headmistress at Government Urdu Boys and Girls Primary School in Buffer Zone, does not have a single student for the afternoon shift.

“Public schools hardly draw students these days. While afternoon shifts usually go empty, situation in morning shifts isn’t great either,” said. “Enrolment at public schools is inversely proportional to the socio-economic status of a locality - enrolment decreases as families jump up the socio-economic strata. Public schools need to improve their standards to stay in the game.”

‘Ghost’ students

Abdul Wahab Abbasi, the director for secondary and higher secondary schools in Karachi, did not beat around the bush when approached by The Express Tribune to comment. “I haven’t visited all 700 afternoon-shift schools but can confirm that 90 per cent of them have almost zero student enrolment,” he said. “A number of headmistresses have lists of enrolled students but they never actually show up the school. This leaves over 50 per cent of the teaching and non-teaching staff at these schools redundant. If posted to functioning public schools, they could at least prove useful.”

He added that the provincial education department was considering consolidating all the functioning and semi-functioning schools in a locality into one, having one principal and different section heads.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 7^th,2013.