BADIN: Participants of a multiparty conference attended by people from various walks of life rejected a decision of the Sindh government to change status of a historical school built by acclaimed philanthropist and reformer Mir Ghulam Mohammad Khan Talpur in Tando Bago town in 1919 at his own expense.

The event was organised by members of civil society in Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Auditorium Hall in Tando Bago on Tuesday and attended by the local leaders of almost all political parties and a large number of members of civil society, including speakers Khan Sahib Jamali, Nasrullah Jarwar, Prof Dr Mohammad Ismail Memon, Ameer Azad Panhwar, Dilbar Sindhi, Faiz Udhejo, Karim Bux Panhwar, Sufi Kaloomal, Soomar Halepoto and Sikander Ali.

They described the decision of Sindh Education Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah to relegate the school from higher secondary to high school status as a joke. Its founder was called Laar-Jo-Abo (the father of lower Sindh), he said.

They said that it was also injustice with the area people to give the status of degree college to the IT degree college, demanding that classes should be resumed in the same old building while the IT degree college should be given its own status for which a mega scheme was launched during the Musharraf regime on the recommendation of former Senator Bibi Yasmin Shah.

The participants said the education minister on the death anniversary of Mir Ghulam Mohammad Khan Talpur on Feb 12 this year in Tando Bago town, instead of announcing construction of the dilapidated buildings of main primary schools both for girls and boys, snatched the status of higher secondary school and announced to shift the classes in the IT degree college. They said they expected that Mr Shah would announce the campus of a university in the town in the name Mir Sahib, who had visualised a university in the town.

They said the building of secondary section was not located in the heart of the town, but it was provided with all modern facilities.

The speakers also criticised the education policy of the Sindh government and asked the high ups to review their decisions in the light of objections of educationists of the province.

They demanded that the chief minister reverse the decision of Mr Shah and order construction of new buildings for both main primary schools. Earlier, Sardar Ali Shah in the presence of the CM and lawmakers from the district had pleaded that there was no need to continue with a higher secondary section after the degree college started to function in the town.

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2019