KARACHI, Feb 4: Wednesday’s question hour began on a stormy note as parliamentarians from the treasury and opposition traded invective even before the first question was asked. However, after Sindh Assembly Speaker Nisar Khuhro calmed things down, Education Minister Pir Mazharul Haq, who is also the province’s senior minister, answered legislators’ queries regarding the education department.
The fracas began when National People’s Party lawmaker Arif Mustafa Jatoi protested due to the fact that none of his questions had been addressed by the education minister in the written replies furnished to the house despite several reminders. This sparked a nasty exchange between Jatoi and Pir Mazhar, following which the NPP member stormed out of the house.
Mr Khuhro intervened before the situation got too unruly, after which Pir Mazhar commented that Mr Jatoi should not have left as he had the replies to his questions and would have answered his queries if the MPA had stayed.
Revenue Minister Murad Ali Shah jumped into the fray when he observed that perhaps Mr Jatoi had some prior commitment, adding that the opposition MPA should be reprimanded for leaving the house in the manner he did.
This drove Syeda Marvi Rashdi, of the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional, to direct the speaker’s attention to the “offensive expressions” and unparliamentary language that was coming “from the other side”. Mr Khuhro asked her not to generalise, to which Ms Rashdi said that both sides should avoid provocative language. A clearly miffed Murad Ali Shah rose to say that he would not accept “accusations”, after which Mr Khuhro ended the matter and the series of questions and answers – the actual purpose of question hour – began.
The Pakistan People’s Party’s Humera Alwani asked the education minister how many government training and vocational schools/colleges were working in Sindh, along with the details of their staff. The Pir – in his written reply – said that 178 such institutes existed in the province while the details had been placed on the table of the house.
Ms Alwani had also asked the education minister if it was true that the Government Degree Boys College Ghorabari, Taluka Ghorabari, District Thatta, had not been handed over to the education department for the last 10 years, and if the government intended to run the college.
In his written reply Pir Mazhar said that the construction of the college had been completed in 2003 and the college had been handed over to the executive district officer (education) Thatta. But the Thatta district government had established a girls’ primary school in the building, though the education department was trying to start college classes as soon as alternative arrangements were made for the primary school students.
Neglected college
Humera Alwani, in her supplementary question, claimed that there was no school functioning there and regardless, the building should be utilized for its original purpose. The minister replied that when he took charge of his department he had ordered that all colleges should be used for their original purpose and had repeated the order. “I shall perform the opening ceremony of the college,” claimed the Pir. Ms Alwani said that due to years of neglect the college premises were now in a decrepit state and needed renovation. She urged the minister to visit the college before its opening. Pir Mazhar replied that he had advised the relevant officials to look into the college’s problems on Wednesday morning.
The questioner also said that the college’s hostel had been encroached upon, to which the education minister said the encroachment would be cleared in three days.
The PPP’s Nadeem Ahmed Bhutto had asked the education minister if it was true that the Sindh Textbook Board had deleted the lesson in connection with Shah Abdul Karim, grandfather of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, from the class III textbook.
Pir Mazhar replied that it was incorrect that the lesson had been deleted. He said after the implementation of the New Integrated Curriculum 2002, approved by the federal education ministry’s curriculum wing, the lesson was shifted from class III to Aasan Sindhi for class V, while it had also been provided in the book Sindhi Nisab for class XI-XII. “However, the present government has decided to place the said lesson in class III textbook, for which directives have been issued to … the Sindh Textbook Board,” said the education minister in his written reply.
‘A conspiracy’
Marvi Rashdi asked Pir Mazhar why the change of curriculum had come from Islamabad instead of the province, to which he replied that it was because education was on the Concurrent List of the Constitution, which the Functional League MPA had herself pointed out. “However, we send suggestions to the (federal government), 99 per cent of which are approved,” claimed the Pir. “Sindh’s heroes have been removed from the textbooks as part of a conspiracy to keep the younger generation in the dark,” he added.
At around this time (12.30pm) Arif Jatoi, accompanied by Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly Jam Madad Ali, returned to the house.
Bilquis Mukhtar of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement asked Pir Mazhar why the lesson had been shifted. He replied by reading out section (b) of the written reply, which said the change had been made by the federal education ministry, while the speaker noted that it was because of reasons best known to the curriculum wing in Islamabad.
When Ms Mukhtar indicated that she was not satisfied with the minister’s response, Pir Mazhar said that if the member wanted to hear a “political answer, it was an anti-Sindh measure.”
The PPP’s Sharjeel Memon recommended that lessons on Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto also be included in textbooks, to which the education minister replied that not only would the aforementioned personalities be included, but a lesson on Shahnawaz Bhutto – Mr Bhutto’s father – would also be included.
Nadeem Bhutto had asked why the decision to teach Sindhi in the province’s technical schools was not being implemented, to which Pir Mazhar conceded that this was not being done and a monitoring committee – consisting of members of the PPP and MQM – was looking into the issue.
A supplementary question by Marvi Rashdi regarding a query sent by Humera Alwani concerning the number of EDOs (education) in the province asked why there was only one woman EDO out of 23. Pir Mazhar said there were not one but two female EDOs and the “discrimination of the past would be done away with.”
Caught off guard
A supplementary question by the PML-F’s Nusrat Sahar Abbasi caught the usually quick-witted Pir Mazhar on the back foot. She had asked why, in the chart of EDOs (education) provided by the minister, had the name of District Nawabshah not been changed to Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto (which was again changed to Shaheed Benazirabad). “You had moved the resolution and we had supported it. Did you forget?” asked the Functional League legislator, amidst thunderous desk thumping from across the parliamentary divide.
“I have sent a show-cause notice. I will report it in the house,” a visibly defensive Pir replied.
The education minister also gave the house details of the World Bank-sponsored Education Reform Programme, sought by Humera Alwani. He said the funding would be performance-based while no political interference would be allowed during the recruitment process of teachers.
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