KARACHI, July 3: The future of over 25,000 students enrolled in about 200 government primary and lower secondary schools of the Malir Town is at stake owing to official neglect over the years. Similar is the case with over 15,000 students enrolled in girls and boys secondary schools of the town.

Inadequate funds, lack of supervision, absence of facilities, shortage of teachers and other staff, insufficient security arrangements, improper maintenance and sheer misuse of premises by unauthorised persons and other malpractices are some of the major deficiencies of government-run primary schools in Karachi’s suburbs, including Malir.

Missing enthusiasm among teachers and non-existence of parents-teachers association are also the hallmarks of the schools administered by the city government and those established earlier by the Sindh government and the KMC.

The PTA, a watchdog meant for ensuring education standards, has never been given due importance by the officialdom over the years owing to which conditions of most of the schools has deteriorated, inquiries by Dawn have revealed.

There are a total of 196 primary and lower secondary schools which are functioning in 139 buildings in Malir Town. Although there is a shortage of more than 200 teachers, a majority of the required ones is the Sindhi language teachers, who are either not available or have been on detailment.

As far as school buildings are concerned, some of these have more than four schools set up in just one building. This contributes to congestion and indiscipline, besides lack of sense of ownership of the premises teachers and students.

A large number of school buildings have suffered wear and tear, with broken furniture and fixtures, owing to improper upkeep, while owing to a poor law and order situation, addicts and encroachers have caused immense damage to many such institutions.

The buildings housing the Faryal Model Academy and the Pakistan Public Boys School in Model Colony have been declared ‘dangerous’ as they may collapse any time and, therefore, have become a potential threat to students and teachers, according to officials.

In most schools of the town, doors and windows have disappeared whereas electric fans, fixtures, lights and other utensils have been removed by anti-social elements, ultimately making students and teachers suffer.

There are no properly maintained playgrounds. Only seven schools have their own playgrounds, though these too are not being utilised properly.

No IT lab exists in any of the schools. Instead, private labs have been set up with government’s approval in girls’ secondary schools only while the same are non-existent in boys’ schools.There are no libraries in primary schools and those in secondary schools are not up-to-date. Though, the secondary sections have Science labs, these too lack equipment.

In majority of schools, washrooms are in a pathetic condition and need reconstruction. Other facilities, like water and sewerage, are either non-existent or non-functional; electrical wiring needs a complete overhaul and buildings and rooms need whitewash. There is no proper arrangement for cleaning of school premises, including washrooms, as sweepers have either retired or died and no new postings have been made. Similar is the case with peons and watchmen, and in their absence anti-social elements have been plundering whatever is available to them.

In many cases, encroachers have been occupying parts of the land belonging to the schools and according to area residents, boundary walls of government schools have collapsed facilitating theft.

Those schools which are located near markets and shopping centers are the worst-hit as the land mafia has built shops outside or within the allotted land of the schools. There has been no action taken by the relevant authorities, or school heads, nor have the area NGOs and community-based organisations made a formal complaint.

Area residents said that the noise from the passing vehicles, as well as by shopkeepers and vendors around, creates a fish market-like din and causes annoying disturbance to students. The worst-hit are the half a dozen schools located near Liaquat Market and Mohammadi Market.

According to the nazim of Malir Town, Ansar Sheikh, a total of 12 schools have been declared model schools to which due attention is being paid. Of them, approval has recently been received for two schools. Some others are being given a facelift with town/MNA funds while plans are also afoot to give a facelift to more schools during vacations.

“The major problem in handling schools is meager allocation by authorities. Hardly Rs100,000 is sanctioned for a school annually. The second obstacle is non-availability of staff. Owing to a ban on jobs, various posts in schools have been lying vacant for long and this has been resulting in problems, like absence of watchmen, intrusion by unauthorised persons especially,” he said.

Sharafat Ali, chairman of the schools committee, said efforts are also being made to give quality education to children, and teachers are being asked to pay maximum attention to this factor. “If they don’t have chairs and desks, they can use mats, but there can be no compromise on the quality of education. Teachers will have to attend schools and take classes regularly. In case of their failure, the education authorities would be recommended to take action against them and provide committed teachers in schools.”

He said he and his colleagues were making efforts to give a facelift to some schools so that when students returned after summer vacations, they feel delighted and at least schools are whitewashed and some broken chairs, stools, desks are repaired for the convenience of the students. Moreover, attention is being paid to over a dozen schools which are functioning in rented premises.

To a question, he said problems had piled up to such an extent that unless the EDO, DOs, and ADOs cooperate with the town, no major improvement could be made. Besides, there is a need to merge many schools, especially primary, in one school in various UCs, and establish model schools, at least two in each town, he added.

About the town funds, it came to limelight that improvement of sewerage network consumed huge funds during the last eight months. Obsolete sewerage lines, the town officials pointed out, had been resulting in a stinking environment in most of the areas. In some cases, schools premises and gates had remained under filthy water, and we had to put in extra efforts and funds to replace such lines.

While visiting various schools, the area residents told Dawn that the ritual of giving permissions for holding of weddings in school premises had been causing extensive damage to school buildings.In many cases, new buildings have been built in different tenures and old blocks have been abandoned. A visit to the City District Government Elementary Boys and Girls Sir Syed School 17/16 in Khokhrapar and some other schools revealed that as new block were constructed, the old buildings were left to rot, and were neither repaired, nor dismantled. And students during school hours usually play in these rooms.

While looking for availability of water and washrooms in schools, it was revealed that even water-tanks were not properly washed and cleaned or regularly filled with fresh water.

In some cases, either taps were missing, or leaking taps were resulting in wastage of water or in many cases emptying of tanks and what to speak of availability of water for washrooms. In many boys’ schools, there was no arrangement of drinking water or ceiling fans were missing.

According to a social worker, shortage of teachers and lack of facilities, have led to the decline in enrollment in certain schools. Another factor behind the falling standards of education in government schools is poor enforcement of discipline, absence of teachers and a major complaint that teachers are more interested in tuitions rather than teaching students in schools.

Authorities are of the view that lack of enforcement of discipline has actually defamed education department and they are making efforts to enforce maximum discipline in schools.

Description of Malir: Malir is a suburban locality with a population of about 600,000 where a majority of people from poor and middle classes reside in seven UCs ie Saudabad, Model Colony, Khokhrapar, Kala Board, Ghazi Barohi, Jaffar Tayyar and Gharibabad.

Owing to non-availability of quality schools, they are unable to provide their children quality education.

The schools which are in a dismal condition included: Double Story School, Apwa Govt Boys, Girls Primary School, Haji Dilbot Goth, Malir, City Dist Govt Elementary Boys and Girls Sir Syed School 17/16, Faryal Model Academy, Arman GBSS Model Colony, Pakistan Public GBSS Model Colony, CDGK’s Lower Secondary School Mohammadi Dera, CDGK’s Boys Primary School No 7 etc.

UC-wise position of students