ISLAMABAD: A survey has revealed that a majority of schools in the federal capital are facing a shortage of teachers, transport, drinking water, toilets, furniture and technology.

The survey was conducted by the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) and the Islamabad capital territory (ICT) administration on the directives of the federal government.

It may be noted that after criticism from private school operators, the federal government has moved to improve standards of education in public sector schools.

The FDE currently looks after 422 educational institutions: 399 schools, and 31 colleges.

The survey stated that 1,191 new classrooms were required and that compared to the total number of required classrooms - 6,121 - the FDE institutions had only 4,930.

There was also a need for Information Technology (IT) labs, since IT was a compulsory subject. There are only 177 labs while 349 were required. The government institutions have 3,069 computers against the need of 6,944. A total of 578 science labs were also required as there were only 271.

Currently, the institutions have only 441 drinking water facilities while 1,133 were required.

There is also a shortage of furniture as 48,910 chairs, 37,474 tabular chairs and 30,744 desks were required.

The public sector institutions also face a shortage of teachers by 1,736 against the sanctioned posts of 8,991. There is also a shortage of about 200 non-teaching staff.

There is a need for 1,043 new toilets in the institutions as only 2,455 toilets were functional and 528 were nonfunctional against a total requirement of 4,026.

In addition, there are only 84 functional canteens in the institutions against the total requirement of 256.

With regards to transport, the survey provided conflicting figures. It states that there is a total requirement of 247 buses and that the FDE-run institutions only have 125. However, if a single bus is provided to each school, there is a need for 422 buses.

The survey was part of a reform exercise. However, officials in the FDE and the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) said various commitments had been made by successive governments but without practical initiatives.

“The government is currently focusing on the 22 worst-affected schools, to uplift them. Later, they will move towards the remaining ones. Let’s see what will happen,” an FDE official said.

CADD Secretary Hanif Khalid said all institutions would be provided the lacking facilities in stages.

“In the initial stage, 22 schools will be provided with all the missing facilities which included renovation and maintenance work. This will be completed soon, after which we will move towards other schools step by step.” He added that the entire project would be completed within three years.

FDE official Abdul Waheed, who coordinated the survey teams, said: “Following the directive of the federal government, 11 survey teams of FDE, ICT officials and police collected data from the institutions which was submitted to the prime minister’s office a couple of days ago.”

The FG College Teachers Association president, Prof Sagheer Ahmed Mirani, commended the government’s move but said he was not optimistic about the project’s completion.

“Based on past experience, this exercise to upgrade education institutions will go up in smoke. That is what happened with the directive from former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who gave all 422 institutions the ‘model’ status but did not provide facilities. Let’s hope for a miracle this time,” he said.

Sources in CADD told Dawn that Maryam Nawaz was eager to bring changes to ICT’s educational institutions.

They said following criticism from private school operators after the government barred them from enhancing fees, Ms Nawaz visited a public school and criticised the lack of facilities and the quality of education. They said she was directly monitoring the reform project.

According to a press release, schools are being upgraded under a special reforms package and the prime minister will inaugurate the first school in the federal capital’s rural area after his return from the US.

The statement said the model would be replicated in all public schools in Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2015

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