KARACHI: Education Minister Syed Sardar Shah on Tuesday informed the Sindh Assembly that not a single school out of the 1,339 built during British era had been damaged in the unprecedented monsoon rains and floods that devastated over 20,000 schools across the province, leaving over 2.3 million children out of schools.

Giving presentation and speaking on an adjournment motion regarding measures required to improve literacy rate in the country, he said that7,530 schools had been partially damaged. “Over 7,000 out of 20,000 flood affected schools are being repaired immediately,” he added.

The minister said there were nominal secondary schools in the province as 35,883 out of 40,253 primary schools, adding that the four million students were enrolled in the government schools, while over 3.1m in private institution and one million in madressahs (religious institutions).

He said that over 11m children were in school, while the number of out of school children was not more than 4.2m.

Over 4.2m children are out of schools in Sindh, says minister; PTI lawmakers stage walkout

Speaking on the adjournment motion, moved by Pakistan Peoples Party MPA Sharmila Faruqui, Leader of the Opposition Haleem Adil Shaikh said that Rs1,700 billion was allocated in the education sector during the past 14 years and still schools were in very poor conditions with no facilities for the students.

He said that there was no water drinking facility in 26,000 schools and over 19,000 were without toilets, adding that 31,000 schools were without electricity, while there was no boundary walls around 21,000 schools.

Rabia Azfar Nizami of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf said there was a huge disparity in primary and secondary schools due to which 60 per cent of students dropped out every year.

She said that over 100,000 children were engaged in begging while over 1.7m were forced into bonded labour, 70pc of them in the agriculture sector.

She said there were only 3,300 secondary schools in the province and over 60 per cent children dropped out of the education system after primary education.

The PTI MPA asked the minister to tell the house as to how many temporary learning centres had so far been established for the students of the destroyed schools.

She said that a large number of children, particularly girls was unable to go to school as they got married in early age. “The Sindh Assembly had passed a bill to refrain child marriages but the same was not implemented even after a lapse of eight years,” she lamented. Ms Nizami said that many government schools in Karachi were in dilapidated condition yet the students were compelled to sit in the dangerous buildings.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) lawmaker Ali Khurshidi demanded an increase in the education budget, saying that “our future is linked with it”.

He said that education ministers were changed in the recent times, adding that policy too was changed after a new minister took charge of the department. “There is need to enforce law and policies in letter and spirit,” he added.

MQM-P’s Jawed Hanif and Muhammad Hussain Khan; PPP’s Sharmila Farooqui, Heer Soho, Imdad Pitafi and Riaz Sheerazi; PTI’s Firdaus Shamim Naqvi; PTI’s dissident Shaheryar Shar and GDA’s Abdur Razzaq Rahimoon also spoke on the occasion.

The PTI also boycotted the proceedings in the end when Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani did not allow Khurram Sher Zaman to make a political speech on the issue of education, switching off his microphone. The speaker also expunged the utterances of the PTI MPA and prorogued the house.

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2022