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HYDERABAD, Aug 25: Officers of the education department up to the taluka level will be given more powers to adopt an effective monitoring mechanism to ensure attendance of teaching staff and improve the standard of education.
This was stated by Sindh Education Minister Hameeda Khuhro while presiding over a meeting of district education officers at the circuit house here on Tuesday. The minister directed the officers not to succumb to political pressure or blackmailing techniques by ghost teachers and ensure prompt action against them.
She expressed concern over teachers' attitude of trying to get posting in urban areas, which had resulted in overstaffing of city schools and shortage of teachers in rural schools.
Ms Khuhro said the government had decided to reduce qualification for recruitment of primary teachers for rural areas to improve attendance and remove shortage of teachers.
She directed the EDO, education, to submit a report about the shortage of teaching staff, equipment and infrastructure so that the requirements could be met. Expressing dissatisfaction over performance of school management committees, she directed the EDO to prepare a working paper with proposals to make the SMCs effective.
Participants of the meeting apprised the minister of difficulties experienced by them in running institutions. District officers, elementary, secondary and college, complained about the shortage of teaching staff, infrastructure and funds.
Education EDO Abdul Majeed Hur said since the devolution of power, the department had not been getting funds on time and the lengthy procedure had also been causing caused lapse of funds.
He said funds should be provided directly to the district education office, rather than through the DCO's office. The officers also complained that many teachers were working in different newspapers and pressuring them for getting relaxation in official duties.
In his briefing, Decentralisation of Elementary Education Project director Mr Nizam Shaikh said according to a census report, 45,000 out of 253,000 children of 10 to 12 years of age were enrolled in middle schools. He said 1,730 middle schools were needed to absorb these children but there were only 169 schools.
NEWS CONFERENCE: Speaking at a news conference at the press club here on Tuesday, the minister deplored the deteriorating standard of education and low ratio of enrolment in Sindh.
She said the enrolment ratio in Punjab was 80 to 90 per cent, in the NWFP, it was 80 per cent whereas in Sindh, it was 60 per cent. She said the reason for this situation was minimal budgetary allocations for the department.
The minister hoped that the situation would improve as foreign agencies were extending help to the education department. She said non-availability of jobs was a reason for the high drop out ratio in schools as people could not afford educational costs of their children.
Ms Khuhro said students would not only be imparted formal education but also vocational, technical and computer education to enable them to find jobs. She told a questioner that action would be taken against teachers working as journalists and those receiving salaries at homes or engaged in private tuitions during school timings would be fired.
She urged people to identify such teachers. When asked about 741 lecturers demanding posting orders, she claimed that the examination for their recruitment had not been conducted by the Sindh Public Service Commission but by the education department, adding that the SPSC had only extended cooperation to the education department in this exercise.
