KARACHI, Feb 26: The provincial Education Minister, Irfanullah Marwat, told the Sindh Assembly during question hour on Wednesday that there were 1,834 schools lying closed in the province and that the government was trying to reopen them.

He was responding to a question raised by Ms Humera Alvani.

Giving district-wise breakup, as demanded by the MPA, the minister said that the 204 closed schools were in Nawabshah, 97 in Sanghar, 320 in Larkana, 21 in Karachi, 95 in Naushehro Feroz, 53 in Jacobabad, 62 in Ghotki, 59 in Sukkur, 126 in Shikarpur, 86 in Khairpur, 179 in Dadu, 105 in Badin, 219 in Thatta, 95 in Hyderabad and 113 in Mirpurkhas.

He maintained that the continued ban on employment was the main reason leading to such a situation.

He pointed out that the province had about 40,000 primary schools whereas the number of middle schools was just 1,660 which was not sufficient to accommodate those young students willing to continue education.

Mr Marwat told the House that the ban on employment would be lifted soon and the financial approval, already sought, for 11,000 jobs in this regard would be accorded. He made it very clear that the recruitment would be made purely on merit basis. He agreed with Jam Tamachi of PPP who remarked that the education system was in bad shape and held political interference and teachers’ organizations’ hold responsible for this state of affairs.

Mr Marwat was of the view that there was a duplication of work under the local government system and pointed out that a committee would address this problem at national level. He informed the House that the committee had been set up following complaints from all the four provinces which were facing difficulties and appeared confused with regard to jurisdiction.

The Minister for Information Technology, Shabbir Qaimkhani, taking part in the discussion, pointed towards the mistakes committed in the past and said that more schools were set up in the areas where population was much less.

He suggested that some legislation be carried out and committees constituted so that the issue could be discussed thoroughly and decisions taken.

The Minister for Women Development, Dr Saeeda Malik, indicated that education was the number-one priority of the present government. She suggested that every possible step be taken to revive academic activities at the non-functioning schools.

Responding to a question by Muhammad Ayaz Soomro of PPP, Mr Marwat told the House that four government commercial centres, located at Rato Dero, Miro Khan, Larkana City and Dokri, had been merged and upgraded to college level to function at Miro Khan where the centre’s building had already been kept ready.

The minister maintained that the merger was prompted by the insufficient number of enrolments in short courses.

Altogether, he said, there were 80 government commercial centres all over the province. While most of these centres were non-functional, a few others were functioning partially and their staff sitting idle.

The Leader of the Opposition, Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, and MPAs Jam Tamachi, Munawwar Abbasi, Imtiaz Ahmed Shaikh, Ayaz Soomro, Nuzhat Pathan, Bano Saghir, Dr Bagh Chand Gulzar Unnar, Sohrab Sarki and Dr Mehreen Bhutto also took part in the debate.

ALLEGATION: The PPP MPA, Bano Saghir, has resented press reports suggesting that she had violated party discipline in the recent Senate elections by not casting her vote as per the party leadership’s directives.