CHINIOT: The quality of education in public sector schools has sharply declined, as 33 out of 85 public high and higher secondary schools in Chiniot failed to pass even 48pc of their students in the recent annual class IX examinations.

The Chiniot District Education Authority (DEA) has issued notices to the heads of these 33 schools for their subpar results. According to the results released by the Faisalabad Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE), out of 194,249 students who appeared for the exams, only 93,340 passed.

Public schools in Chiniot struggled to meet the required pass percentage, with rates ranging from 8pc to 46pc.

In Chiniot city, four high schools showed particularly poor performance. At Government Al-Islah High School, only 18 of the 221 students passed. Government Lab Excellent Higher Secondary School had 44 students out of 62 fail, and Government Islamia High School saw only 92 out of 272 students pass. Government High School Chiniot reported 226 out of 637 students passing.

Overall, out of 12,707 students from Chiniot who appeared for the exams, 7,007 passed, yielding a pass percentage of 55.1pc. In contrast, private schools performed better, with 2,974 students sitting for the exams and 2,089 passing, resulting in a pass percentage of 70pc.

Dawn’s investigation has revealed that political interference, frequent changes in the leadership of the DEA, and the demoralisation of teaching staff have contributed to the poor performance of public sector schools in Chiniot.

In the past 10 months alone, five chief executive officers (CEOs) have led the DEA in Chiniot. Mehr Aftab Ahmad, who assumed the role on Oct 25, 2023, was transferred on April 3, 2024. He was succeeded by Razia Sultana, district education officer, who lasted only a month before being replaced by Abdul Jaleel on May 30, 2024. He was succeeded by Dr Mohsin Abbas on July 10.

Dr Mohsin addressed the issues like revamping school councils, training for head teachers and education managers, Miyawaki forestation projects and beautification efforts for public schools. Special literacy and numeracy camps for slow learners and initiatives aimed at producing high achievers in matriculation exams have also been implemented.

Dr Mohsin said teachers have not been promoted to higher grades for years, contributing to their demoralisation. To address this, 27 elementary school teachers have been promoted to secondary positions, and 100 primary teachers have been elevated to elementary levels. These newly promoted teachers will be deployed to high schools with low performance due to teacher shortages.

Management training for education managers, including DDEOs, AEOs, and head teachers, is being provided in collaboration with the private sector. Also, 65 out of 85 computer labs in high schools, which had been closed due to technical issues or lack of resources, are set to be refurbished with allocated funds.

Functional Literacy and Numeracy camps have been established in 137 primary schools, focusing on Grade 1 to 3 students in subjects like Urdu, English, and Mathematics. A substantial budget of 250 million has been allocated for school beautification, tree plantation, and the establishment of Miyawaki forests.

Furthermore, District Education Officer Abdul Jaleel has issued explanation notices to 33 school heads for their poor results. The DEA is hopeful that these efforts will improve educational outcomes in the upcoming board examinations in March 2025.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2024