KARACHI, March 6: Sindh Education Minister Irfanullah Khan Marwat has regretted that his department has some 14,000 shelterless schools in the province.

“There are no boundary walls, roofs or provision of water in these schools,” he said while speaking at the shields distribution ceremony organized by the United Teachers Welfare at the Govt Secondary Major Ziauddin School in Nazimabad.

The minister said that from now on the money available would be utilized for undertaking repairs of shelterless schools so that standard education could be provided there.

The minister was told that the education department officials were maligning teachers despite the fact that many teachers had retired without getting promotions or move-overs.

They requested the minister to resolve teachers’ problems and change Friday timings in schools.

The minister conceded that teachers were facing many problems and added that he was fully aware of them. He assured that the genuine problems would be resolved.

Mr Marwat said the meeting of the Departmental Promotion Committee would be convened within 15 days to undertake the process of promotions, and Friday timings would be changed within a month.

He further said the affairs of the Sindh Textbook Board would be streamlined. “In the past, contracts for publishing books were given to favourites of the officers of the board. Hopefully, the board and the education department would improve their functioning now,” said the minister.

Talking to delegations of students and doctors who met him at his office, the education minister said that the government was seriously considering to resolve the issues of regularization of contract doctors and admission of students to the Sindh Medical College.

He disclosed that the government had constituted a sub-committee of the cabinet on regularization of contract doctors and admission of MBBS students to the Sindh Medical College.