THATTA, June 4: The falling educational standards and alarmingly high incidences of cheating, especially in four government colleges of Sujawal and Thatta are due to the shortage of subject teachers. In all, 55 posts of teachers of various subjects need to be filled on emergency basis for brining on track the educational process in the district.

MPA Humera Alwani giving the break-up to the correspondent said that 12 posts were lying vacant in the Government Boys Degree College Thatta, 15 in the Government Girls Degree College Thatta and 28 positions in two degree colleges of Sujawal, one for boys and the other for girls.

Students in these colleges were deprived of teachers of Botany, Zoology, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Economics, Pakistan Study, Islamic Education, Computer Science, English, and Sindhi, she said adding that

Provincial Education Minister Pir Mazharul Haq had already been requested to fill in the vacant posts of subject teachers in these institutions.

Inside information revealed that the Department of Information Technology had posted IT teachers some four years ago in boys and girls degree colleges of Thatta and high schools of Thatta, Makli, Sujawal and Gharo but none was taking classes resulting in rotting of computers and other related equipments,

Sources said that most of these teachers belonged to influential families.

Another impediment was stated to be poor infrastructure such as delay in completion of repair and renovation of buildings of degree colleges of Makli and Thatta. The work was in doldrums for last two years reportedly due to non-release of funds by the Sindh government.

A large number of students of each college were compelled to attend their classes at hostel blocks or under the sky thus giving birth to lack of interest among students.

The laxity had encouraged the vagabonds who feel pleasure in pulling down the fixtures of already damaged buildings.

A former president of the Awami Tehreek Dada Qadir Ranto said that 10 EDOs had been transferred since the PPP government took over some three years ago. He linked political favouritism and corruption behind deteriorating education process in the district.

The Education Department had failed in improving the literacy graph in Thatta by even a small measure during the decade, said PPP Sindh council member Aijaz Ali Khwaja. Academician Ghulam Hussain Rangrez said dearth of coordination among teachers, parents and students was also a cause of descending graph of education. Class cult and commercialization had ruined the educational progress in this poverty-stricken district.

This scribe made various attempts to seek the comments of EDO Education Thatta Bashir Ahmed Jokhio but could not.