DADU: Sindh Minister for Education Syed Sardar Ali Shah has said that dropout rate of students has increased in the wake of rain and flood disaster in the province, which damaged 20,000 school buildings and the department requires Rs292 billion to reconstruct them.

The minister told journalists during a visit of flood-hit areas in Khairpur Nathan Shah taluka on Wednesday that all schools had been surveyed one by one under World Bank policy and guideline and its reports had been submitted for rehabilitation. For the time being, the department needed tent schools to continue education of students, he said.

He said that it was a serious challenge to provide education to students in this cold and windy weather in flood-hit areas of Dadu, Jamshoro, Qambar-Shahdadkot and other parts of the province.

He said that it would take at least three years to rehabilitate the school buildings. The department had requested Provincial Disaster Management Authority, National Disaster Management Authority and international donors to donate tents for the , he said.

He said that temporary schools were set up at relief camps and tent cities during the initial days of the disaster but when the floodwaters receded, people returned to their villages where students had to receive education under trees or open sky in such intense cold.

Sindh needs Rs292bn to rehabilitate damaged school buildings

He said that there were 35,000 primary schools and 5,000 post-primary schools, including high schools, and appealed to international donors to release funds for the rehabilitation of school buildings in flood and rain hit areas of Hyderabad, Sukkur, Larkana and Mirpurkhas divisions.

He said that shortage of resources had hit education department’s plans. Of the Rs292 billion budget, a huge chunk of 87 per cent went into salaries and pension, Rs38 billion was set aside for grants to public schools, private institutions, SEF and Sindh Textbook Board, leaving the department with Rs15bn funds while Rs292 billion were needed to reconstruct schools. “We cannot construct even a washroom in schools in Rs15bn budget,” he said.

He said that girls’ elementary and high school would be selected for the pilot project for pick and drop facility to girl students to and from schools.

He said that the project would be launched in Nagarparkar, Ghora Bari costal belt and two more areas. A total of 5,500 candidates out of 60,000 were appointed as JST and HST on merit, tests would be conducted for the remaining 3,000 candidates through IBA and training would be provided to 2,000 candidates who had taken less than 40 marks, he said.

He said in answer to a question about fake job orders that he had received reports that some fake orders were circulating in the market and director of schools Karachi had issued orders for their cancellation. An inquiry had been launched into the issue, he said.

He said that a mechanism had been put in place in the education department to control corruption and it helped reveal corruption of district officers of primary and higher schools, Jacobabad. Subsequently, they were suspended and an inquiry was under way, he said.

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2023