HYDERABAD, June 10: Speakers at a seminar held here on Friday stressed the need for public-private partnership for reopening about 6,000 closed schools and improving conditions in primary, secondary and higher-secondary schools in Sindh.

They said that effective measures should also be taken to reduce the dropout rate among children in class-I which was recorded at 40 per cent.

The seminar on “public private partnerships for education” was organised by the Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy.

District Nazim Kanwar Naveed Jamil, PCP executive director Shahnaz Wazir Ali, Sindh additional secretary Iqbal Durrani, Sindh Devolved Social Services Programme programme-director Abdul Kabeer Kazi, Education Sector Reforms Assistance chief Mujtaba Piracha, Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry acting-president Azizuddin Arain, Chaudhry Iqbal Ahmed Khan and EDO (education) Abdul Majeed Hur spoke on the occasion.

The nazim said that the district government was spending major volume of its budget on education yet it remained insufficient.

He said that of 11,000 schools, 140 had no buildings and students had to sit on floor.

He said that of 140, 30 schools had been selected under limited resources for construction of buildings.

He said that the district government was willing to handover some schools to NGOs for which it would continue its own funding as well.

He said that 62 hospitals needed district government’s attention while construction of four new health institutions was in the pipeline.

He said that he was also looking for philanthropists to adopt schools in the district.

He said that there was visible difference in quality of education, being imparted in private and government schools despite the fact that government teachers received higher salary than their counterparts in private schools.

Iqbal Durrani said that there were 6,000 schools lying closed in Sindh while dropout rate of school children in class-I was recorded at 40 per cent.

He said that students got disgruntled for poor facilities and absence of teacher.

Shahnaz Wazir Ali emphasised the need for promoting idea of public-private partnership and sought support from the political leadership.

She said that the PCP wanted to work for bringing government schools at par with private ones.

She said the PCP was working in Thatta, Mirpurkhas and Ghotki where school buildings and rooms had been constructed and teachers had also been provided.

“The government alone cannot do anything and we must find cost effective ways to work for betterment of schools and local community should also be approached at all levels”, she said. She said that teacher absenteeism needed to be taken seriously.

She said that there were shortcomings in the education system but people should not be sitting as silent spectators because they have to work for their own children. She said that 217 boys and 135 girls’ schools were without drinking water supply in the Hyderabad district while 392 boys and 135 girls’ schools had no electricity.

She said that 56 per cent school children did not have access to schools in the district.

Mujtaba Piracha said that spirit of the community in partnership should not be underestimated and added that a room had been constructed through indigenous means under USAID for Rs80,000.

He said that partnership could not be based on mistrust and added that under ESRA 1,100 school kits had been provided while grants were given to 800 schools and of them 700 new rooms were constructed.

He said that 7,000 teachers had been trained while under the USAID literacy programme more than 10,000 literate people were produced.

He said that the community should be associated at implementation and monitoring stage of any programme

Abdul Kabir Kazi said that following devolution government decided to ensure that 25 per cent of grants were to be utilised under 3Ps adding that the Hyderabad district had excelled in utilising funds in health and education sector.