KARACHI: Govt urged to seek NGOs’ help for better education
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Feb 2: Speakers at a meeting on Saturday urged the authorities to review curriculums, provide training to teachers and work with nongovernmental organizations, so that education standard could be improved.
They were speaking at the forum on Equal Basic Education for All — From Slogan to Reality, organized by the Karachi Women’s Peace Committee. Representatives of a large number of NGOs working in the field of education shared their experiences and gave suggestions for the improvement of education.
The chief guest, Sindh education minister Irfanullah Khan Marwat, said the department was in a mess and he was taking steps to improve the standard of education.
He said two primary schools in each taluka were being identified where the medium of education would be English from class one, so that rural people could have the opportunity to get quality education.
He said NGOs could approach the department, and after fulfilling the formalities they would be given the schools through either denationalization or the adopt-a-school programme.
He said the government, under a programme, was providing Rs100 to every primary school girl student in the remote rural areas and over Rs260 million had been spent by the government, but he was yet to come across a girl or her parents who had received the amount. He said shortage of funds was not a major issue as the province spent nearly Rs20 billion a year on education. He said a large number of government teachers did not come to schools where they were posted and did other jobs, but they took salaries as teachers.
He said at least 400 teachers in Hyderabad and 93 in Sanghar districts were getting salaries from the education department, and were also working as reporters in various newspapers.
He said he had been advised not to touch the teachers as they, through their connections, could create trouble. particularly at the time of examinations.
He said there had been political considerations, nepotism or other considerations during the recruitment of teachers in the past, and then there had been little or no accountability which had resulted in the present state of education.
He said a lot of bungling was going on in the Sindh Textbook Board and the board’s press had been closed down and books were being printed through the contractors.
Referring to the various languages being taught to young students, he said these were necessary. He said Sindhi and Urdu speaking youngsters must learn each others’ languages for it was necessary to bridge the urban-rural divide.
Earlier, other speakers suggested that teachers and other education department officials be provided training and refresher courses so that they remained updated. They also suggested that curricula be reviewed and updated in view of the ground realities.
One of the speakers said that education was not on the priority list of the government as the children of the policy makers did not study at government schools.
Another speaker said the working conditions and the salary structure of teachers should be improved.
One speaker suggested that teachers posted in in the villages be provided accommodation where they had to perform their duties.
Nisar Effendi, Nargis Rehman, Dr Naseem Salahuddin, Haider Karrar, Dr Mohammad Sharif, Riaz Ahmad, Mushtaq Chappra, Jahanara Hayee, Dr Fateh Burfat, Farhana Iqbal, Younus Bandhani, Nirgis Abbas, Hameed Maker and others spoke on the occasion.
