KARACHI, Feb 29: In view of poor written and verbal communication skills in English, displayed by most of the candidates who appear in various examinations conducted by the Sindh Public Service Commission for civil posts , the commission would open 100 English learning centres at taluka and town levels in the next five years.

Sources in the SPSC said that the authorities concerned had felt that most of the latest information or knowledge was available in English language, the knowledge of which was badly lacking among the candidates belonging to various walks of life, and as such there was a need of setting up English learning centres.

These centres would help the candidates, intending to apply for jobs in the public sector, equip themselves with the English language skills, and would enable them to seek the latest knowledge, providing them with a fair chance to compete for various civil jobs, a source added.

Since most of the recruitment procedure, including written tests and interviews by selection committees, was held in English, most of the candidates failed to express themselves adequately and were found unable to correctly write even intermediate-level English, besides lacking translation skills, ie from English into Sindhi or Urdu and vice versa.

In addition to SPSC's English learning centres plan, there was a need to improve the standard of English teaching in the institutions, right from primary and secondary levels up to the university level, the source pointed out.

SPSC Chairman Muhammad Hassan Bhutto said that the English language centre project had been approved by the Planning and Development department of the government, while Sindh chief minister had also hinted at supporting the programme.

We would establish 20 centres every year, where a 75-hours teaching would be conducted for every batch during a span of three months by senior language teachers, who would be paid Rs500 per teaching hour, he added, saying that fund for the centres would be allocated in the 2004-2005 budget. However, he mentioned that the performance of teachers would be evaluated from time to time, based on the results shown by the candidates having taken the language proficiency courses at the SPSC centres.

He said that the five-year training project was aimed at enhancing the capabilities of the candidates from Sindh, in written and spoken English, so that those intending to apply for public sector jobs could compete well for the same.

The commission intended to cover all tehsil headquarters in the interior of Sindh, besides the towns of Karachi, and approximately, 1,600 to 1,800 graduates would be trained in one year, and about 10,000 in five years, he said.