KARACHI, July 10: With the appointment of about 143 high school and 282 junior schoolteachers, over 170 middle schools constructed in 16 districts of the province have become operational.

Except a few middle schools established in Jacobabad on the Sindh-Balochistan border and one in a remote area of Karachi, all the middle schools have been made functional with Sindh governor’s special permission to appoint 537 junior schoolteachers and 179 high school teachers through the Sindh Public Service Commission.

The Sindh Middle School Project had earlier sent recommendations to the provincial education department for appointments of teaching and non-teaching staff for the recently- constructed schools.

The establishment of the middle schools was started by the Sindh Middle School Project with financial assistance provided by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

An official of the Sindh Middle School Project said that education planners associated with the project had tried to emphasize on the development of post-primary level education in the province, especially in rural and undeveloped districts.

Majority of the middle schools for boys have been made functional by transferring teachers from other public schools as teachers appointed through the SPSC were fewer in number than needed. However, girls’ middle schools have been made operational by posting newly-appointed teachers there.

In addition to appointment of teaching staff, 54 non-teaching surplus staffers of the Social Welfare Department have been deployed in these schools, including 20 in middle schools in Jacobabad, 20 in Karachi and 14 in Dadu districts.

Almost 100 per cent equipment, including furniture and instructional material, have been provided by the Sindh education department to run these schools.

Most of the middle schools have been established in the interior of the province, including rural and undeveloped areas or at taluka level, in Larkana, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Sukkur, Ghotki, Khairpur, Nawabshah, Naushehro Feroze, Hyderabad, Thatta, Badin, Mirpurkhas, Sanghar, Tharparkar, Dadu and Karachi districts, the official said.

Of the 179 middle schools, 19 girls and boys middle schools have been established in Karachi, 42 middle schools in Hyderabad division, 34 in MirpurKhas division, 31 in Larkana division, while rest of the middle schools have been established in Sukkur division and its adjoining areas and Tharparkar.

Project authorities had earlier proposed the appointment of over 1,100 trained and qualified teachers, including 179 higher secondary teachers, 537 junior secondary teachers, and 179 physical training instructors.

In addition to teaching staff, communities of various areas have been requested to recommend and appoint 358 non-teaching employees at these educational institutions, the official maintained.

Giving details of other activities under the project, he said training was being arranged for over 2084 heads of middle schools in addition to providing stipends and scholarships to girl students and teachers hailing from rural and slum areas.

Under the stipend programme, the Sindh government, in collaboration with the ADB, is providing stipends to girl students who are studying in 6th, 7th, 8th and HSC part-I&II classes.

Approximately, the Sindh government has distributed over Rs48.302 million among these students at a rate of Rs1470 per student annually, while another 500 woman teachers for middle schools have been, so far, paid Rs3412 annually under faculty- strengthening programme.—PPI